The Turkish Environment Minister stated that Yalova and Balikesir are among the cities that remove most of the mucus.

In the past 7 days, Turkey has collected a total of 2,684 cubic meters (94,784 cubic feet) of mucus from the Sea of ??Marmara.

Turkey’s Minister of Environment and Urbanization, Murat Kurum, shared the latest progress in water cleanup on Tuesday, said that the ongoing operations are progressing well and the collected mucus has been sent for processing.

He said that the provinces of Yalova in the northwest, Istanbul and Bariksir in the west are the areas where most of the mucus is removed.

“In our 1,438 inspections as of June 14, we imposed an administrative fine of 7.55 million Turkish Lira (US$881,239) on companies that did not meet the necessary conditions,” he said.

Mucus, also known as “sea snot”, is an overgrowth of microalgae called phytoplankton, caused by global warming, stagnant water, and pollution leading to increased sea temperatures.

On June 6, the Turkish authorities announced a 22-point action plan to remove a large amount of mucus covering parts of the Marmara Sea in the northwest of the country.

Mucus – mainly gathered in Mudanya, Gemlik Bay, Gebze and its surrounding areas, coastal areas on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, and around the Princes’ Islands – also partially covers the coast of the Marmara Sea .

The material covering the central coast of the northwestern part of Yalova Province was blown away by the wind to the coastal areas of the Cinarcik and Armutlu districts and the town of Esenkoy, which are important tourist centers.

Experts warn that mucus will appear more frequently due to global warming [Yasin Akgul/AFP]