Marine pollution

A cleanup initiative conducted in the southern province of Hatay has revealed the alarming extent of pollution in the Mediterranean Sea, as divers removed debris, including tires, chairs, ghost nets, and various other items.

A large amount of waste was collected and removed last week from Kalloni Bay in Mytilini by divers from the environmental organization iSea and the Department of Oceanography of the University of the Aegean, the municipality of Western Lesvos, and volunteers.

The action aimed at raising awareness of marine pollution issues. 

Illegal constructions in the highlands of the eastern Black Sea region pose a threat to the environment, as an expert warns that the primary cause of pollution in the sea is the waste dumped around these areas, which reaches the Black Sea coast.

As part of a project under to coordination of the Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Ministry and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBTAK), the waters of the country will be monitored at 425 separate locations for a period of three years to combat marine pollution.

The ship that sank off the southern province of Antalya on April 5 might cause sea pollution as it contains bauxite, a professor has warned.

After a foreign-flagged ship carrying minerals from the southern province of Hatay to Ukraine off Antalya sank, five of the 14 Syrian crew members were rescued.

One of them lost his life, and eight people have not yet been reached.

A few days prior to the start of the fishing ban, fishermen say this season has not been productive, while an expert attributes the decrease in the species in Marmara to overfishing and pollution.

In addition to the construction materials in the debris waste, wood, electronic, plastic and metal materials might become a pollution mechanism that threatens the nature and the health of living species in a wide area by mixing with soil and water, says a Greenpeace report.

A member of Derindere Respect Diving Group, who wanted to protest the fishing in the Bosporus and draw attention to the pollution in the seas, took plastic fish out of the sea by diving in a Santa Claus outfit.

The diver wearing a Santa Claus outfit collected plastic fish from the bottom of the sea to raise awareness about the sea pollution and fishing policies in the Bosporus.

These shocking images show the devastating impact throwaway facemasks are having on the health of our oceans after washing up among coral reefs in a diver's paradise.

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a surge in pollution, adding to the glut of plastic waste that is already threatening marine life with masks floating like jellyfish and waterlogged gloves scattered across seabeds.

"I don't think there is a single organism in the sea any more that has not been in contact with plastic," the 44-year-old told the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro, CIN-CG, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and the weekly Monitor.