12,000 square meters of net cleared of Marmara Sea: Expert

ISTANBUL

Within the scope of the “Ghost Net Hunting Marmara” project, 12,000 square meters of abandoned fishing nets have been collected from the Maramara Sea in just one year, the project coordinator has said but warned that even if the efforts continue for the next four months, it won’t be enough to entirely clear the sea of discarded nets.

The efforts to clean the sea from ghost nets have been ongoing since September 2021 under the coordination of Dr. Adnan Ayaz, professor and member of Çanakkale University’s Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology.

The team has so far collected 12,000 square meters of purse seine net and 700 meters of extension nets from the seabed in one year.

Ayaz noted the number of ghost nets found around Marmara Island is quite high, adding that purse seine and trawling nets pose a grave threat to the marine ecosystem.

“The seabed has become a net cemetery. Even if we dive around Marmara Island for another four months, we will not be able to clear the sea of ghost nets,” he explained.

Ayaz also pointed out that the team removed the purse seine net from three regions. While there are 25 purse seine nets in the submersible zones, all wrecks at depths that cannot be reached via diving are already covered with these nets.

Elaborating on the work on Sivriada, one of the Princes’ Islands in the Marmara Sea, Ayaz said 2.5 kilograms of scorpionfish that got entangled in a net went blind, with injuries observed on their skin between the dorsal spines and the scale on the tail fin.

Pointing out that ghost nets pose a serious danger to fish species, Ayaz underlined the necessity of removing them from the region.