Marine Researchers Raise Alarm Over Sea Slime Plaguing Waters Off Istanbul

Turkish oceanographers have sounded alarm over thick layers of slime-like marine mucilage blighting the waters off Istanbul, media said on Friday

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2021) Turkish oceanographers have sounded alarm over thick layers of slime-like marine mucilage blighting the waters off Istanbul, media said on Friday.

"Our latest research data shows that sea slime has spread wide across the Sea of Marmara.

It has spread from the surface underwater and looks like gel," Baris Salihoglu, of the middle East Technical University's Institute of Marine Sciences, was cited as saying by the DHA news agency.

A research vessel with a team of 25, including 15 scientists, has been surveying the sea for three days. They will brief the Environmental Ministry on their findings next week.

Salihoglu told DHA that the unprecedented spreading of sea slime was likely caused by huge amounts of raw wastewater being dumped into the sea. He estimated that oxygen in the sea water could be restored to its normal level within six years if the amount of salt in sewage was halved.