Project initiated to prevent marine pollution on Aegean shores

MUĞLA

Within the scope of a project, steps are being taken to prevent marine pollution that emerged on the shores of the Aegean resort town of Marmaris as a result of erosion caused by rains following last year’s catastrophic forest fires.

The project will cover comprehensive efforts initiated by the Marmaris Environmentalists Association (MÇD), with an aim to clear the mud layer seen up to 2 meters in some parts of Marmaris Bay.

Having been conducting research with experts in the field to draw attention to the pollution in Marmaris Bay since 2011, Ahmet Kutengin, the head of MÇD, noted that they would submit a report that features solution proposals to the relevant authorities after the completion of the examination stages.

Emphasizing that the threat of erosion that emerged following the latest fire disaster increased the destruction in the sea, Kutengin said that firstly nature and then tourism activities in the region would face damages unless precautions were taken and a solution was found.

Stating that the studies and reports prepared in previous years were blocked by bureaucracy, Kutengin said they were determined to keep the job tighter this time and that he wrote a letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to solve the problem in this direction.

In some regions of Marmaris, where the flames turned the forests into ashes last year, soil mass and pebbles started to flow towards the sea with the effect of precipitation and landforms since there were no tree barriers in front of them, causing the natural balance on the coasts to deteriorate.

Samples taken from seabed points 200 meters off the coast for three days showed that the soil descending from mountains formed a layer of mud with a height of 2 meters at the bottom in some parts of the bay.