For over a month, Turkey has been facing an unusual yet serious issue — sea snot. A layer of thick and slimy mucus covered the surface of the Turkish Marmara Sea, reducing oxygen levels, killing fish, and disrupting the ecological balance. The deceptive name doesn’t entirely convey the potentially catastrophic harm that the environmental hazard poses for Turkey and the world.

Here is all you need to know about sea snot and its potential effects on global climate and marine life

What is sea snot?

Sea snot or marine mucilage is a slimy, mucus-like substance that is produced by aquatic microorganisms due to the excessive presence of elements like phosphorus and nitrogen in water bodies. The microorganisms, phytoplankton, use these elements for their nutrition, which are deposited through untreated wastewater, and produce sea snot, which is made out of carbohydrate residue.

Sea snot has been observed in the Mediterranean Sea since the 18th century when factories would pump their runoff directly into the sea. The presence of mucilage has increased since 2007, due to exacerbating conditions caused by global warming.

Higher temperatures increased water pollution, and calmer seas, all lead to a significantly higher presence of mucilage in water bodies. Overfishing of filter-feeder fishes, that eat this phytoplankton, also contributes to the rising presence and subsequent sea snot production.

Why is it harmful?

Sea snot in itself is not dangerous. While the mucilage is in essence, just microorganic residue clumped together, it also attracts dangerous microorganisms like viruses and bacteria like E. coli, which can cause a host of diseases.

Sea snot in large quantities is also deadly to the marine biome. The mucilage quickly starts blocking out the surface of the water, which leads to a drastic reduction in oxygen levels. In the Sea of Marmara, the sea snot expanded to such a large extent that large sections of water were completely covered.

The declining oxygen levels then cause other aquatic life like fishes, coral, shellfish to die out as they are not able to get enough oxygen.

The sea snot also then starts to settle under its own weight and starts expanding towards the sea bed, engulfing and essentially strangling anything that gets caught within it. Once it reaches the sea bed, it can wreak ecological havoc on coral, bottom feeders, and other parts of the ecology.

“They’re literally smothered,” said Alice Alldredge, University of California Santa Barbara oceanographer to the Atlantic. “Sure, it’s uncomfortable for us as human beings to have all this gunk at the surface. But the bottom-dwelling organisms are going to die.”

The situation in Turkey

The Sea of Marmara is an inland sea that connects to the Aegean Sea in the South and the Black Sea in the North. It is much smaller in expanse than its neighbouring seas and is only connected to them through two narrow straits, the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus.

The sea has been fished for millennia, but in recent years has come under intense pressure from overfishing, being used to feed the bustling Turkish cities, including Istanbul, on the coast. The industrial runoff from nearby factories and other industries has also resulted in dangerously high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the sea which has very little mixing with other seas.

The Sea of Marmara has also been particularly affected by global warming.

Baris Salihoglu, head of Middle East Technical University's Institute of Maritime Sciences, told DW, “We know that the water temperature in Marmara has increased by 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius over the past 20 years, above the global average.”

All of these factors contributed to the largest sea snot event as of yet. Not only does the sea snot affect the local marine life, but it has also brought the shipping industry to a standstill in the region. Fishermen are no longer able to catch fish, as the heavy mucilage snaps their nets. Turkish tourism is also threatened as the mucilage spreads to beaches, which need to be closed as a result.

The sea snot has already spread below the surface level up to 100 ft deep, choking out all the life within its vicinity.

More dangerously, it is also starting to spread to the Black Sea and the Aegean through its narrow straits. Both the Aegean and the Black Sea can face a similar outbreak of mucilage if the undercurrents from the Marmara continue to bring the ‘sea snot’ to them. The mucilage would not only cause economic harm through disruption of fishing, tourism, and trade, but the ecological damage could be devastating.

"My fear is, if this expands to the Black Sea... the trouble will be enormous. We need to take this step without delay," said Turkish President Recep Erdogan, per BBC News. "Hopefully, we will save our seas from this mucilage calamity.

What is Turkey’s response?

While Turkey cannot alone control global warming and the rising temperatures of the Marmara Sea, the country has proposed steps to tackle the problem. Turkey, which is one of the few countries that has not ratified the 2015 Paris Climate deal, vowed to tackle the problem.

Erdogan’s government outlined a 22-point action plan to deal with the current sea-snot problem. As part of the plan, the entire Marmara Sea is going to be designated as protected.

Environmental Minister Murat Kurum said that a thermal facility, a fertiliser factory, and three shipyards were among the industries closed on the coast after the government initiated hundreds of inspections while looking into sources of water pollution in the sea.

Around 55 other facilities and 9 ships were also fined for a cumulative total of $1.6 million. In other areas of the sea, experimental ideas like oxygen pumping are being used as well. Ideas to use the snot as fuel or to convert it into plastic have been floated for economic recovery. Cleaning boats have also been set up to clean up the snot on a 24/7 basis.

The cleanup operation is expected to take anywhere from three to five years to be complete.

Salihoglu highlighted that the relief measures can start improving the situation quickly. Salihoglu also stated that the ecological impact might not be fully recoverable. “(Marmara Sea) will never recover it to its original pristine state, but its resilience hopefully will increase."

First Published:Jun 27, 2021 7:50 AM IST