The Gulf of Izmit restoration project in Kocaeli, northwestern Türkiye, has reached 70% completion, with 2.4 million cubic meters of seabed sludge removed since work began in 2022 under the Marmara Sea Protection Action Plan, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said on Saturday, noting that marine life is returning to the area as the ecosystem recovers.
The cleanup operation was initiated in response to the severe mucilage outbreak that affected the Marmara Sea in 2021 and is being carried out in cooperation with the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality.
"We have completed two phases of the project and removed a total of 2.4 million cubic meters of seabed sludge. Our target is 3.8 million cubic meters, meaning nearly 70% of the work has now been completed," Kurum said.
The minister described the initiative as one of the world's largest marine restoration projects and said underwater observations confirmed that ecological conditions in the gulf are steadily improving.
According to Kurum, seagrass meadows, starfish, sea cucumbers and other marine species have begun returning to areas that were previously covered by thick layers of accumulated sludge.
