Black Sea Day

31 October is celebrated as the International Black Sea Day. The date was chosen as a holiday in 1996, during a meeting between the ministers of environment of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. It is already part of the life of the 16 million people living along the coast and is firmly established in the calendar of events related to environmental awareness raising and public involvement on Black Sea issues. Black Sea has a wide catchment basin. More than 300 rivers flow into it. About one-third of mainland Europe belongs to the catchment basin of the Black Sea. The second, third and fourth biggest rivers in Europe belong to the catchment basin of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, linked to the Black Sea. The area of the catchment basin is over 2.3 mln.sq.m. and covers, fully or partially, the territories of 22 countries in Europe and Asia Minor – 6 Black Sea countries (Bulgaria, Goergia, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine) and 16 countries from Central and Eastern Europe. The Black Sea is the most isolated sea of the World Ocean – it is linked to the oceans through the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosphorus, Dardanelli and Gibraltar straites.

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