Fishing nets

Türkiye, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia have joined efforts in a new initiative to tackle the rising threat of "ghost nets" — abandoned or lost fishing nets that continue to trap and kill marine life — in the Black Sea.

Allegations over fishing boats carrying out activities close to the shore and in shallow areas in the Bosphorus, especially off the coast of Sarıyer, violating the 24-meter depth limit and harming fish populations have sparked controversy.

The Balıkesir Municipality has stated that 50,000 square meters of ghost nets have been removed from the Aegean and Marmara seas over the past three years as part of a comprehensive campaign to combat the threats posed by these nets to marine biodiversity.

Divers from the Coast Guard Command on June 7 discovered Türkiye's largest ghost net, estimated to have been in the sea for at least a decade, in the Marmara Sea and collected it to recycle.

Within the scope of the "Ghost Net Hunting Marmara" project, 12,000 square meters of abandoned fishing nets have been collected from the Maramara Sea in just one year, the project coordinator has said but warned that even if the efforts continue for the next four months, it won't be enough to entirely clear the sea of discarded nets.

The fish population has increased rapidly following the strict implementation of the law against illegal fishing, where the officials have seized around 150 illegal fishing boats so far and fined thousands of Turkish Liras to the poachers, the Agriculture and Forestry minister said.

Fishes, corals and several other marine species living under part of the Marmara Sea that surrounds Istanbul's Princes' Islands are under severe threat due to the large amount of seine nets abandoned by Turkish fishermen.