Flesh-eating fish reduced water level of Lake Beyşehir, mayor says

ISTANBUL

The water level of Lake Beyşehir, Turkey’s largest freshwater lake, has decreased from 26 meters of depth to six meters due to wrong fish production policies, according to Adil Bayındır, mayor of the Beyşehir district of the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

Bayındır said that the number of flesh-eating fish called Sudak multiplied by reducing the number of plant-eating fish, as a result of this, making grass appear at the bottom of the lake.

“For example, if the lake has a depth of five meters, three-meter-long grass appeared. The materials coming from the mountains, alluvial and the grass at the bottom of the lake created a filling. Alluvial fillings occurred. The deep edge of Lake Beyşehir, which had a depth of 26 meters before, has now fallen to about five-six meters,” Bayındır said.

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry has denied the claims that wrong fish production caused a decrease in the water level at Lake Beyşehir.

The ministry stressed that flesh-eating fish is not produced in the lake.

“It is thought that the decrease in water level [at Lake Beyşehir] is caused by the decrease in rainfall and the withdrawal of water from the lake for use,” the ministry said in a statement.

Lake Beyşehir and its surroundings have been declared as a national park in 1993 and taken under protection.

The National Park covers an area of 86,855 hectares.