Yeysk residents have appealed to authorities regarding the annual mass death of fish in the river.

Residents of Yeysk, Yeysk, and Shcherbinovsky districts in Kuban recorded a video appeal asking authorities to prevent the mass fish kill at the Yeysk locks. According to residents, the situation reoccurs every year, but no action is being taken.

Concerned about the fish kill, fishermen and concerned residents appealed to the authorities and regulatory agencies to resolve the environmental disaster in the locks of the Yeya River delta.

The video appeal from residents was published on the "Baraholka Yeysk" Telegram channel, which has over 29,000 subscribers. By 7:00 PM Moscow time, the video message had received more than five thousand views.

"Today, February 18, 2026, all the fishermen of Yeysk, Yeysk, and Shcherbinovsky districts have gathered here to ask for help in finally solving the problem of fish kills at the Yeysk locks. Look at this global catastrophe," the assembled local residents said in the video.

The footage shows the entire surface of the river covered in floating dead fish. "It's all fish, all the way to the bottom. It's not poachers who have gathered here, it's ordinary people, local residents, everyone who cares," residents say in the video.

According to those gathered, fish die en masse every year – tens of thousands of them. And every year, people raise the alarm. But authorities, according to residents, are dismissing the problem, citing either the water's salinity or a lack of oxygen.

"This is an annual problem, but for some reason, no one wants to address it. Every time there's publicity, we're told it's either not enough water, or the salinity, or there's no oxygen – the same thing every year. Therefore, we're asking for help, asking higher-ups to solve this problem," local residents stated.

In February 2025, a mass fish die-off was also observed in the Yeya River, causing serious concern among local residents. The fate of the roach, a fish long considered a local delicacy and symbol of the city, attracted particular attention, according to Yeysk Info. By 12:23 a.m. Moscow time, neither the Yeysk city administration nor the Yeysk district administration had commented on the residents' video message. The Caucasian Knot also reported that in 2021, residents of the Yeysk district were alarmed by the massive death of birds and fish. At the time, local residents discovered the carcasses of dead birds, dolphins, and fish on the shore near the village of Shilovka.