2 June 2021, Eda:

So why there are no more mackerels in İstanbul? As came to the interest of the public with the mucilage covering the water surface in İstanbul very recently, and pointed out by hydrology and biology professors for a very long time now; the Sea of Marmara is dying.

The mucilage spreads as a layer and depletes the oxygen in the sea. Marmara can be compared to Lake Luzern, as an inland sea, it is covered by land; and it has two straits to Aegean and the Black Sea. The water exchange capacity is not too much and it is very delicate. Yet the sea is surrounded by the most populated and heavily industrialized cities of Turkey, and the sea’s waste load is massive.

Unfortunately, the most obvious contrast between the two cities and the statement of their relationship with water is the cleanness of this water. I wished to see the Marmara Sea in its good old days, and compare it to Lake Luzern with all the cultural settings that spread around unpolluted water.