As every year, this year too, due to the June 5-11 Environment Week, 'Seabed Cleaning and Diving Activity' The Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Environmental Protection and Control Department, which carried out the event, instilled environmental awareness in citizens by exhibiting garbage collected from the sea. In addition, a large-scale search was carried out with the underwater drone of the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality.
In the diving event, divers working at the Mersin Fire Department and Mersin Marina dived and collected garbage from the bottom of the sea. As every year, human-made garbage such as car tires, shopping baskets, doormats, fishing nets, plastic and glass bottles, cigarette packages and cigarette butts were found during the dive. The algae-growing waste was exhibited at the Mersin Marina for citizens to see. While the garbage thrown into the sea by human hands was exhibited, people also experienced the struggle for survival experienced by sea creatures through the tunnel made of ghost nets. The participants, who were very impressed by the nets, expressed that they would no longer throw garbage into the sea and would also collect the garbage thrown around.
Halisdemir: “Our aim is for people to be aware of climate change, take precautions and not pollute”
Dr. Bülent Halisdemir, Head of the Environmental Protection and Control Department, stated that they carry out cleaning and awareness activities at all times of the year, but they also organize events specifically for the June 5-11 Environment Week. “We perceive June 5th not as a celebration but as a day of awareness. We, as the Metropolitan Municipality, are making every effort to ensure that people become aware of the environment and climate change, take precautions and do not pollute, and we are carrying out our struggle in this direction.” He said. Halisdemir, who drew attention to the fact that Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer has great sensitivity regarding environmental and marine cleanliness, “For this purpose, we are fighting to keep the sea and our streets clean. We want everyone to live in peace and prosperity in this city where green and blue coexist.” gave his words.
“The garbage thrown into the sea disrupts the vital activities of marine creatures”
Halisdemir stated that they carried out various activities to instill environmental awareness in everyone. “One of our activities is 'Seabed Cleaning and Diving Activity'. Right now, we have removed the garbage thrown into the sea with our divers at Mersin Marina and are exhibiting it. We are doing this to show why we need to keep our sea clean. Because every garbage thrown negatively affects the marine ecosystem. It disrupts the vital activities of the creatures living there.” she said.
Halisdemir emphasized that thousands of creatures live in the seas, “One of the activities we carried out to understand what marine life goes through was to make a tunnel out of ghost nets. We wanted our citizens who pass through this tunnel to see how difficult it is and to understand what fish go through. Marine life is constantly in contact with these in their own homes and is harmed by these nets. Sea turtles mistake the bags for jellyfish and eat them, which puts an end to their vital activities. We do not want a seal that wants to play with or eat any discarded plastic to wrap itself around its neck or for fish to die by getting caught in these nets in this way.” dedicate.
“We stand tall, fight and prevent every factor that pollutes the sea”
Halisdemir also reminded that they constantly monitor the Mersin Sea in a distance of 53 kilometers from Kulak to Çeşmeli. Halisdemir said that 2024 ships came to Mersin in 5 and all of them were inspected. “We work 24 hours a day, night, to keep this city clean. We want those who visit Mersin to pay attention to this. Every piece of garbage we throw on the street goes to the streams through the grills or directly to the sea. Please, our citizens help us in this regard.” Halisdemir said that they are one of the leading municipalities in Türkiye in terms of inspection with technological devices, “We stand tall against every factor that pollutes the sea, we fight and prevent it. We have bought barriers to prevent pollution from streams and we are trying to prevent as much solid waste as possible from going into the sea and the formation of waste that we call microplastic.” He said. Drawing attention to the fact that invasive species have increased in the Mersin Sea in recent years due to pollution, Halisdemir said that they are working together with the Middle East Technical University (METU) Marine Sciences Institute to protect the marine ecosystem. Halisdemir said that they aim to spread and increase sea meadows, which are very important for the marine ecosystem, with METU in the coming period.
Both adults and children will be more careful about the marine ecosystem
Bekir Kaan, 13, said that he learned about the Environment Week thanks to the Metropolitan Municipality's event. “I learned that toothbrushes disappear in the sea in 500 years, and that many plastics thrown into the sea disappear in 20-40 years. There are ghost nets here, and they also harm marine life a lot. They made an exhibition out of garbage from the sea, and we examined it in detail.” Kaan said that he had a hard time passing through the ghost networks set up for awareness. "We even got stuck while passing by, and we had a hard time escaping. Since we got stuck despite being human, how could the fish get stuck and escape? In order to prevent this, we need to stop polluting the sea. The world belongs not only to humans, but to all living things." He gave the message.
13-year-old Ali Emir also learned how fish get caught in nets and die. “We learned that fishing nets disappear in 600 years, and straws in 200 years. There are more fishing nets, garbage and waste in the sea than fish. We should recycle the garbage, not throw it into the sea.” dedicate.
Kuzey Süsoy stated that sea creatures are suffering a lot due to garbage, “This information was very useful, I am now aware of it. I did not know some information and learned it here” saying, “Don’t pollute, be a breath to nature” said the slogan.
Uras Samsa, who learned that garbage causes great harm to nature, “All ghost nets cause fish to die. We even got stuck while passing through them. I used to throw a little bit of garbage into the sea, but after seeing these places, I will not throw garbage into the sea.” dedicate.
Medicinal and aromatic plants such as thyme, floss flower and geranium, which have an important place in the fight against flies, were also distributed at the event.
