The petroleum industry commenced development on the Volga in the second half of the 19th century. The Artemiev brothers pioneered the use of tankers in 1873, which helped the trade but damaged the river, because old wooden ships used for transportation of petrole um and its products leaked with even the slightest rolling. According to some estimates, up to 3 million puds (48,000 tons) of petroleum products leaked into the river water annually, resulting in the disappearance of gnats, locusts, and mosquitoes, as well as crawfish, and a decline in the fish population. The obvious damage did not lead to any immediate action due to the lack of legislation on water usage and protection. The adoption of such legislation was delayed by the on-going conflict between entrepreneurs from the petroleum and fish industries, which became apparent in 1878 and reached its height in 1892-93. While lawsuits dragged on, river pollution-continued. Only after the investigations of scientists such as Grimm, Chermak, Arnold, Ovsiannikov, Kuliabko, and Kuptsis, the “Regulations concerning the transportation of mineral oil, petroleum and its products” were adopted in 1904. They banned the use of wooden barges as tankers, but allowed a ten-year transitional period for their replacement.