Finland Times

 

Fans of the Finnish delicacy river lamprey are worried about the future availability and prices following a major leak of nickel to a river in the main catch area early July, it was reported Wednesday.

Over 60 tons of nickel ended up in the river Kokemäki in Southwestern Finland early July from the Russian-owned Norilsk Nickel processing plant in Harjavalta, local media said.

Regional officials said the leak had continued over 30 hours until noticed by the plant staff. The local director of Norilsk Nickel, Joni Hautojarvi, has not denied the leak, but did not comment on whether the plant had broken the rules in its license.

 Regional environmental authorities are asking for a police investigation.

Finnish daily Helsinki Sanomat said Wednesday that the company failed to comply with its environmental permit by not reacting to the accident sooner.

"Although the leak was caused by a technical failure, the personnel should have monitored the system and consequently been able to detect the leak sooner," the newspaper quoted the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) as saying.

Following the environmental hazard, thousands of dead clams surfaced in the river. Helsinki Sanomat published a photo taken on Tuesday showing contaminated mussel shells by the river.

River lampreys take five years to develop. After the larva stage, they migrate out to the sea and return later to the river. 

This year's catch is migrating back to the river in August and will not be affected, but possible damage to lampreys now, in the earlier larva stage, on the bottom of the river may decimate catches in the next few years, fishermen in the area said. 

River lampreys live in other local rivers, but Kokemäki river is the main catch area.

Norilsk Nickel purchased the Harjavalta plant from the U.S. OM Group in 2006. It is one of the largest Russian-owned enterprises in Finland.