1. Navigation

1.1. Ports and Ferry Terminals

According to the International Transport Workers' Federation 2013 study, there were at least 30 operating merchant seaports in the Black Sea (including at least 12 in Ukraine ).^[1]

1.2. Merchant Fleet and Traffic

According to the International Transport Workers' Federation 2013 study, there were around 2,400 commercial vessels operating in the Black Sea.^[1]

2. Fishing

Anchovy: the Turkish commercial fishing fleet catches around 300,000 tons per year on average, and fishery carried out mainly in winter and the highest portion of the stock is caught between November and December.^[2]

3. Hydrocarbons Exploration

Since the 1980s, the Soviet Union started offshore drilling for petroleum in the sea's western portion (adjoining Ukraine 's coast). Independent Ukraine continued and intensified that effort within its exclusive economic zone, inviting major international oil companies for exploration. Discovery of the new, massive oilfields in the area stimulated an influx of foreign investments. It also provoked a short-term peaceful territorial dispute with Romania which was resolved in 2011 by an international court redefining the exclusive economic zones between the two countries.

4. Oil and Natural Gas

The Black Sea contains oil and natural gas resources but exploration in the sea is incomplete. (As of 2017), 20 wells are in place. Throughout much of its existence, the Black Sea has had significant oil and gas-forming potential because of significant inflows of sediment and nutrient-rich waters. However, this varies geographically. For example, prospects are poorer off the coast of Bulgaria because of the large influx of sediment from the Danube which obscured sunlight and diluted organic-rich sediments. Many of the discoveries to date have taken place offshore of Romania in the Western Black Sea and only a few discoveries have been made in the Eastern Black Sea.

During the Eocene, the Paratethys Ocean was partially isolated and sea levels fell. During this time sand shed off the rising Balkanide, Pontide and Caucasus mountains trapped organic material in the Maykop Suite of rocks through the Oligocene and early Miocene. Natural gas appears in rocks deposited in the Miocene and Pliocene by the paleo-Dnieper and pale-Dniester rivers, or in deep-water Oligocene-age rocks. Serious exploration began in 1999 with two deep-water wells, Limanköy-1 and Limanköy-2, drilled in Turkish waters. Next, the HPX (Hopa)-1 deepwater well targeted late Miocene sandstone units in Achara-Trialet fold belt (also known as the Gurian fold belt) along the Georgia-Turkey maritime border. Although geologists inferred that these rocks might have hydrocarbons that migrated from the Maykop Suite, the well was unsuccessful. No more drilling happened for five years after the HPX-1 well. Then in 2010, Sinop-1 targeted carbonate reservoirs potentially charged from the nearby Maykop Suite on the Andrusov Ridge, but the well-struck only Cretaceous volcanic rocks. Yassihöyük-1 encountered similar problems. Other Turkish wells, Sürmene-1 and Sile-1 drilled in the Eastern Black Sea in 2011 and 2015 respectively tested four-way closures above Cretaceous volcanoes, with no results in either case. A different Turkish well, Kastamonu-1 drilled in 2011 did successfully find thermogenic gas in Pliocene and Miocene shale-cored anticlines in the Western Black Sea. A year later in 2012, Romania drilled Domino-1 which struck gas prompting the drilling of other wells in the Neptun Deep. In 2016, the Bulgarian well Polshkov-1 targeted Maykop Suite sandstones in the Polshkov High and Russia is in the process of drilling Jurassic carbonates on the Shatsky Ridge as of 2018.^[3]

In August 2020, Turkey found 320 billion cubic metres (11 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas in the biggest ever discovery in the Black Sea, and hoped to begin production by 2023. The Turkish drilling ship Fatih, had been carrying out exploration operations in the Tuna-1 sector in the western Black Sea for the past month. The field is called the Sakarya Gas Field. The sector is near where Romania has also found gas reserves.^[4]

5. Coastal and Port Cities on Black Sea Coast, Population and Trade

Cities of the Black Sea. https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?curid=1805490

In the years following the end of the Cold War, the popularity of the Black Sea as a tourist destination steadily increased. Tourism at Black Sea resorts became one of the region's growth industries.^[5]

• Black sea coast cities names (Clockwise from Istanbul; Russia* denotes contemporary disputed territories claimed by Ukraine)
• Clock wise country names : Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia

The following is a list of notable Black Sea resort towns:

Black Sea beach in Zatoka, Ukraine. https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?curid=1448301

• 2 Mai (Romania)
• Agigea (Romania)
• Ahtopol (Bulgaria)
• Amasra (Turkey)
• Anaklia (Georgia)
• Anapa (Russia)
• Albena (Bulgaria)
• Alupka (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Alushta (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Balchik (Bulgaria)
• Batumi (Georgia)^[6]
• Burgas (Bulgaria)
• Byala (Bulgaria)
• Cap Aurora (Romania)
• Chakvi (Georgia)
• Constantine and Helena (Bulgaria)
• Constanța (Romania)
• Corbu (Romania)
• Costineşti (Romania)
• Eforie (Romania)
• Emona (Bulgaria)
• Eupatoria (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Foros (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Feodosiya (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Giresun (Turkey)
• Gagra (Abkhazia, Georgia^[7])
• Gelendzhik (Russia)
• Golden Sands (Bulgaria)
• Gonio (Georgia)
• Gudauta (Abkhazia, Georgia^[7]) and subsequently the Gudauta Bay.
• Gurzuf (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Hopa (Artvin, Turkey)
• Istanbul (Turkey)
• Jupiter (Romania)
• Kamchia (Bulgaria)
• Kavarna (Bulgaria)
• Kiten (Bulgaria)
• Kobuleti (Georgia)
• Koktebel (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Lozenetz (Bulgaria)
• Mamaia (Romania)
• Mangalia (Romania)
• Năvodari (Romania)
• Neptun (Romania)
• Nesebar (Bulgaria)
• Novorossiysk (Russia)
• Ordu (Turkey)
• Obzor (Bulgaria)
• Odessa (Ukraine)
• Olimp (Romania)
• Pitsunda (Abkhazia, Georgia^[7])
• Pomorie (Bulgaria)
• Primorsko (Bulgaria)
• Rize (Turkey)
• Rusalka (Bulgaria)
• Samsun (Turkey)
• Saturn (Romania)
• Sinop (Turkey)
• Sochi (Russia)
• Sozopol (Bulgaria)
• Sudak (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Skadovsk (Ukraine)
• Sulina (Romania)
• Sunny Beach (Bulgaria)
• Şile (Turkey)
• Sveti Vlas (Bulgaria)
• Trabzon (Turkey)
• Tsikhisdziri (Georgia)
• Tuapse (Russia)
• Ureki (Georgia)
• Vama Veche (Romania)
• Varna (Bulgaria)
• Venus (Romania)
• Yalta (Crimea, Ukraine/Russia (disputed))
• Zonguldak (Turkey)

6. Population

Most populous urban areas along the Black Sea coastline

Istanbul Odessa	Rank	City	Country	Region/County	Population (urban)	Samsun Constanța
	1	Istanbul	Turkey	Istanbul	14,324,240[8]
	2	Odessa	Ukraine	Odessa	1,003,705
	3	Samsun	Turkey	Samsun	535,401[9]
	5	Varna	Bulgaria	Varna	500,076
	4	Constanța	Romania	Constanța	491,498[10]
	6	Sevastopol	disputed:  Russia(de facto) /  Ukraine (de jure)	Federal city / City with special status	379,200
	7	Sochi	Russia	Krasnodar Krai	343,334
	8	Trabzon	Turkey	Trabzon	305,231[11]
	9	Novorossiysk	Russia	Krasnodar Krai	241,952
	10	Burgas	Bulgaria	Burgas	223,902[12]
	11	Ordu	Turkey	Ordu	217,640
	12	Batumi	Georgia	Adjara	204,156[13]