Over the past two weeks, Turkish sea cleaning teams have collected a total of 5,738 cubic meters of mucilage from the Sea of Marmara, the country's environment and urbanization minister Murat Kurum said on Twitter.
Noting that the collected mucilage has been sent for disposal, Kurum said Istanbul, Kocaeli, Bursa, Tekirdag, Balikesir, Canakkale and Yalova are among the provinces where most of the mucilage has been cleared.
Mucilage is an overgrowth of microscopic algae called phytoplankton caused by rising seawater temperatures due to global warming, stagnant water, and pollution.
This year, mucilage or "sea snot" was detected in January and then intensified and expanded in April, resulting in a serious problem contrary to previous examples, which usually disappeared in a month or 45 days.
As it continued to increase in its intensity in May and June, the Turkish authorities announced a comprehensive action plan to clean up the Sea of Marmara on June 6.
