Marmara

An annual report released by the State Meteorological Service has showed that the volume of the precipitation across the country between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021, has been the least of the last two decades.

"The precipitation decreased by 16 percent compared to rainfalls that occurred a year ago and some 19 percent down from the average of several years," the report said.

Necessary actions will be taken, including the implementation of the Strategic Plan, and those work will be completed in three years with a vision to end the mucilage problem in the Marmara Sea, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has said.

The presence of marine mucilage in the depths of the Marmara Sea has not been in an alarming situation but continues to be a threat, according to the latest exploration studies carried out on the surface and bottom of the sea by an expert.

Mussels will be used in line with a massive cleanup campaign launched by authorities to eliminate the problem of mucilage that has severely threatened the marine biome of the Marmara Sea, a senior official has said.

Some 280 Olympic pool volume of wastewater is being discharged from Ergene River in Turkey's northwest to the Marmara Sea every day, according to Greenpeace Mediterranean.

"Industrial wastes had made the Ergene River one of the most polluted streams in the world. Now, these wastes are carried to the depths of the Marmara Sea by pipes," the NGO said in a statement.

Two vessels reportedly collided in Turkey's Sea of Marmara on Oct. 24.

The Benitamou, a Panamanian-flagged vessel 299 meters (981 feet) long, collided with the Vanessa, a Barbados-flagged ship 172 meters (564 feet) long, off the Sarkoy district of the northwestern Tekirdağ province for an undetermined reason.

Fish caught in Turkey's Marmara Sea can be consumed without any doubt unless it's raw, a senior official has said, amid public worry that the fish weren't edible due to marine mucilage, a jelly-like layer of slime that invaded the sea this summer.

The upper layers of the waters of Marmara Sea are getting warmer due to global warming and pollution, an expert has warned.

Speaking at an organization in the northwestern province of Edirne, hydro-biologist Mehmet Levent Artüz stressed the dangers the Marmara Sea will face in the near future in a presentation named "The Climate Crisis and the Seas."

The 57th Tour of Turkey will take place from April 10 to 17, 2022, the Turkish Cycling Federation has announced on its official website.

The Turkish Cycling Federation has been organizing the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey since 1963, and initially, it was known as the "Marmara Tour.

Located in the northwestern province of Yalova's Altınova district and home to 236 different bird species, Hersek Lagoon is an important wetland in the Marmara region. (AA Photo)