Marmara

Over the past 11 days, Turkish sea cleaning teams have collected a total of 4,202 cubic meters (148, 392 cubic feet) of mucilage from the Marmara Sea, said the country's environment and urbanization minister on June 19.

Updating the state of the works to clear out mucilage, also known as sea knot, Murat Kurum said on Twitter that the operations were conducted in 255 locations.

Turkish cleanup teams have collected a total of 3,288 cubic meters (116,114 cubic feet) of mucilage from the Marmara Sea in the last eight days, the country's environment and urbanization minister said on June 16.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on June 15 criticized the government's way of dealing with environmental issues and urged it to take immediate measures against the marine mucilage, or "sea snot," blanketing shorelines across Turkey's Marmara Sea.

In line with Turkey's comprehensive sea cleaning effort to clear up mucilage from the Marmara Sea, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry have temporarily closed a fertilizer factory in the northwestern province of Balıkesir's Bandırma district after footage showing the factory discharging untreated wastewater into the sea went viral on social media and triggered a public outcry.

A parliamentary decision on the establishment of a commission to investigate the causes of the mucilage problem in Turkish seas and to determine measures to be taken has been published in the Official Gazette.

Turkish teams collected over 1,197 cubic meters (42,271 cubic feet) of mucilage from the Sea of Marmara over the past four days, said the environment and urbanization minister on June 12.

In a statement, Murat Kurum said operations to clear the sea of the substance, also known as "sea snot," are ongoing at 77 locations, adding that the collected mucilage had been sent for disposal.

Only by stopping industrial pollution can Turkey rid the Marmara Sea of the 'snot' spreading across its surface, experts say.

Turkey launched a massive cleanup campaign in 15 districts of seven provinces along the coast of the Marmara Sea on June 8 in an effort to eliminate the aggravating mucilage problem that has severely affected the marine ecosystem.

In the face of a recent mucilage threat, Turkey will clean up the entire Sea of Marmara in part by declaring it a protected
conservation area, the Turkish president said on June 9. 

The massive marine mucilage bloom that has threatened the undersea life of the Marmara Sea is now spreading and taking the Black Sea under its grip.