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The Black Sea waters have clearly separated layers. The thin upper layer of marine water (up to 150 m) supports the unique biological life in the Black Sea ecosystem. The deeper and more dense water layers are saturated with hydrogen sulphide, that over thousands years, accumulated from decaying organic matter in the Black Sea . Due to the unique geomorphologic structure and specific hydrochemical conditions, specific organisms, basically on the level of protozoa, bacteria, and some multi-cellular invertebrates inhabit the deep-sea waters.

Knowledge about biological forms of life in the deep waters of the Black Sea is very limited. The disturbance of the natural balance between the two layers could trigger irreversible damage to the people and ecosystem of the Black Sea (Source: State of the Environment of the Black Sea 1996-2000, publication of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution, Istanbul 2002).

Isolation from the flushing effects of the open ocean, coupled with its huge catchment, has made the Black Sea particularly susceptible to eutrophication (the phenomenon that results from an over-enrichment of the sea by plant nutrients).

Eutrophication has led to radical changes in the Black Sea ecosystem in the past three decades with a major transboundary impact on biological diversity and human use of the sea, including fisheries and recreation. The North Western shelf of the Black Sea for example, was converted from a unique system based upon rich and extensive beds of red algae and bivalves, to an anoxic “dead zone”, the seasonal occurrence of which persists until present time. The nitrogen and phosphorus compounds triggering eutrophication come from all over the Black Sea Basin .

The Black Sea Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (1996) indicates that, in 1992, 70% of the nutrients were coming from the six Black Sea countries (three of which - Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine - discharge much of their nutrient load through the Danube) and the remaining 30% comes from the non-coastal countries, mostly of the upper Danube. Studies by the Danube Basin Environmental Programme suggest that about half the nutrients discharged to the river are from agriculture, one quarter from industry and a similar proportion from domestic sources. The current loads of nutrients entering the Black Sea from the Danube has fallen in recent years due to the collapse of the economies of most lower Danube and former Soviet countries, the measures taken to reduce nutrient discharge in the upper Danube countries, and the implementation of a ban in polyphosphate detergents in some countries. Current phosphate levels appear to be roughly the same as in the 1960s but total nitrogen levels are still at least four times as high as those observed during that period.

There is evidence of some recovery in Black Sea ecosystems but these observations lack scientific rigor owing to the collapse of infrastructure to monitor and evaluate changes in the system. It is widely considered however, that nutrient discharges are likely to rise again with consequent damage to the Black Sea , unless action is taken to implement nutrient discharge control measures as part of the economic development strategies.

More infromation on the Black Sea can be learned from the web site developed within Black Sea Web Project http://www.blackseaweb.net/:

The Black Sea Web Project, a joint-project between local partners from the Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Romania and EC-partners from the Netherlands and Denmark, focuses on strengthening of environmental management for the Black Sea Region. Within the framework of the Project, a Demonstrator for a Black Sea Marine Environmental Management Support System, based on Telematics (Black Sea Web) has been developed and evaluated. This Demonstrator provides a model for future expansion of the system among all countries bounded on the Black Sea. Also it will contribute to the further development of the Black Sea Region state-of-the-art on Informatics and Telematics.

The current GEF intervention in the Black Sea region builds up on the previous interventions since 1993 and covers the period Apr 2002 - Oct 2007.