Aquatic ecology

Turkey will use oxygenation technology to protect the Sea of Marmara from mucilage, also known as sea snot, as part of the country's clean-up campaign launched earlier this month, said the environment minister on June 21.

Over the past 12 days, Turkish sea cleaning teams have collected a total of 4,555 cubic meters (160,858 cubic feet) of mucilage from the Sea of Marmara, said the country's environment and urbanization minister on June 20.

Updating on the efforts to clear out the mucilage, also known as sea snot, Murat Kurum said on Twitter that the operations were conducted at 278 locations.

Marine mucilage, which spreads in the Sea of Marmara and has recently been observed at the bottom of the Aegean exit of the Dardanelles, poses a threat to small boats, according to a Turkish scientist.

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.

Turkey's parliament has agreed to set up an all-party committee to investigate a slimy, floating mass of yellowish-white sea mucilage that is threatening marine life in the Marmara Sea.

The so-called sea snot, a thick and slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms, has surfaced in waters south of Istanbul, alarming marine biologists and environmentalists.

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.

Turkey on June 8 will start a huge cleanup campaign to save the Sea of Marmara from excessive algae, according to the Environment and Urbanization Ministry.

Teams from Turkey's Environment and Urbanization Ministry on June 6 started work clearing the Sea of Marmara of mucilage.

Turkey will overcome the problem of mucilage formation in its waters, especially in the Sea of Marmara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 5.

"We'll save our seas, especially the Sea of Marmara, from this mucilage problem," Erdoğan said at a mass opening ceremony on the occasion of World Environment Day in Istanbul.

While examining the floor of the Marmara Sea, the country's only inland sea which has become a serious environmental concern due to uncontrolled mucilage production, a scientist has identified three of its spots entirely covered in mucilage.