By : Satyaki Paul
In recent context, amid rising environmental concerns with regard to global warming. Turkey has witnessed overaccumulation of “Sea-snot” in the Sea of Marmara region. The Sea of Marmara links Black Sea to the Aegean Sea.
Sea-snot is a thick, oily grey-brown sheet which is also known as marine mucilage. This type of sheet is formed by the decomposition of dead and other organic materials. The sludge take place when algae laden with nutrients fests on warm weather, mainly due to climate change. Another thing should be noted that, algae are the prime source of maintaining oxygen concentration in water bodies, but, if their growth is ignored, they could lead to the development of this mucilage that could block sunlight from entering the deep waters. In this context, the exact cause of their extensive growth is being determined, one prime cause is pollution from organic compounds like nitrogen and phosphorous. The sea is also encircled by a population of around 20 million people, which has generated overfishing in the area causing a major loss to the aquatic biodiversity making it susceptible to such outbursts. Furthermore, industrial and agricultural runoff has also been contributing to Marmara’s degradation.
The first Sea-snot outburst was observed in Turkey in 2007. Nevertheless, the recent outburst is the biggest in its history.
President Erdogan has opined that, “my fear is, if this expands to the Black Sea, the trouble will be enormous. We need to take this step without delay”.In similar vein, the government of Turkey is also calling upon local residents, and NGOs to offer their hand during maritime clean-up operations. Furthermore, Turkey is also targeting to diminish nitrogen levels in the sea by 40%. Such measures mightreinstate the sea waters to its former state. The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).