Sea snot not seen on Marmara’s surface anymore: Minister

ANKARA

Mucilage that invaded and threatened the marine biome of the Marmara Sea alarmingly is no longer seen on the surface of the sea thanks to the intensive cleaning efforts, Turkish Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum has said.

In a video Kurum shared on his Twitter account, he provided some updates regarding the works ongoing to free the Marmara Sea from sea snot, which has been on the country’s agenda since this summer.

Necessary steps are quickly being taken to remove mucilage, which poses a threat to marine life and causes visual pollution, from the Marmara Sea, Kurum said.

The minister also extended his gratitude to all personnel in the ministry, governor’s offices and municipalities, who have been working day and night to clean the Marmara Sea in a “spirit of mobilization.”

“We truly have a nature and environment volunteer as a leader. Dear Mr. President [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] provided all the support that needed to be given during this period,” he said.

The ministry established a Coordination Committee to fight against the problem of sea snot and took action within this scope, Kurum said.

“In a month, which is such a short time, we no longer see mucilage over the sea surface,” he said.

“Not we can see our fish [in the sea], people can swim in the sea and eat our fish. Indeed, this made us very happy,” he added.

Kurum also said that there are still steps that need to be taken in order to get rid of the sea snot entirely in the sea and that the government would take those steps with “decisiveness.”

“We started this journey by saying ‘Marmara belongs to all of us.’ We cleaned the mucilage from our Marmara Sea with our municipalities by working day and night,” he said.

The minister also vowed to continue to protect Turkey’s seas and marine ecosystems.

Mucilage is an overgrowth of microscopic algae called phytoplankton caused by rising seawater temperatures due to global warming, stagnant water and pollution.

This year, it was detected in January and intensified and expanded in April, resulting in a critical problem contrary to previous instances where it usually disappeared in a month to 45 days.

As mucilage continued to expand in intensity in May and June, Turkish authorities announced a comprehensive action plan to clean up the Marmara Sea on June 6.