Seal rookery filled with trash to be cleaned in Yamal in 2020
© RIA Novosti. Ramil Sitdikov

Seal rookery filled with trash to be cleaned in Yamal in 2020

The largest seal rookery in Yamal will be cleaned up next year by the Russian Arctic Exploration Center, according to the press service of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area.

The seal beach is located 45 kilometers away from the village of Kharasavei on the northwestern coast of Yamal. There are a lot of abandoned buildings in the area, with metal barrels, scrap iron and wooden buildings from an old meteorological station.

"The cleaning up process of the area will be organized at the very beginning of the summer, because rookeries are places where marine mammals rest in the fall, when the Arctic seas are largely ice-free. Seals are on the list of Russian and Yamal red data books. There have never been so many seals in the district before," the message reads.

In addition to this, next year the cleaning up process of the former rotation village of Kharasavei will continue. To date, two hectares were cleaned up, the area re-planned, and 30 out of 64 of the dilapidated facilities done away with. Over 1,500 tons of rubble and 900 tons of scrap metal were collected.

This work has been carried out in the village all year round since March 2019 by 23 workers. The building debris is disposed of in a mobile incinerator. The scrap metal is cut up and kept at special places. Pieces of beams are packed and stored to be given to the locals, who live a traditional style of life.