The slime plague in the Marmara Sea is by no means over.
The countermeasures taken by the Erdogan government are apparently insufficient.
Istanbul - "Altogether 60 percent of the species have already disappeared": The sea slime disaster in the Turkish Marmara Sea has a significant impact on the ecosystem of the inland sea.
The hydrobiologist Levent Artuz therefore warns the German Press Agency (dpa).
In May of this year, the slime catastrophe had clearly broken out in the Sea of Marmara.
The slime floated on the surface in many places, was washed up on the coast and made it impossible for fishermen to fish at times.
Turkey: Temperatures and sewage feed slime off the coast
The slimy mass is the excretion product of certain algae.
Sooner or later it will settle on the seabed.
According to experts, the algae multiply through higher temperatures, untreated wastewater that is drained directly into the sea and low flow rates.
This has negative consequences, especially for organisms that live on the sea floor.
The growth of mussels is slowed down, soft corals covered by slime cannot do their real job, namely filtering the water, said Ekin Akoglu, marine biologist at the Turkish Odtü University.
In the long term, the lack of oxygen also reduces the zooplankton in the water, which many fish feed on.
Slime catastrophe off the Turkish coast: ecological crisis looming
Even if the slime has not been floating visibly on the surface since August, the disaster is by no means over, said Mustafa Sari, professor of water resource management at the Turkish University of Bandirma Onyedi Eylül. The layers have sunk and are beginning to decompose. The decomposition of the sea slime consumes oxygen in the water, among other things, which in turn promotes the formation of new sea slime.
In October, the conditions for a new spread are particularly favorable, said Sari. He therefore expects that slime will again be visible on the surface in November. Artuz, for example, fears that the slime could spread to the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea and warns of a regional ecological crisis. Together with 20 experts, Artuz has been monitoring the spread of the plague at 450 points since the beginning of the year. The sea slime has "irreversibly" damaged the ecosystem of the Marmara Sea.
The government of Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted to the outbreak in May and had parts of the slime skimmed off. However, experts agree that these measures are not enough. The discharge of untreated wastewater must be stopped immediately, says Artuz. “After three decades of intense pollution, the Sea of Marmara is now a dead sea.” He hopes the surrounding waters will not face a similar future.
(dpa / frs)
