Turkey’s president promised Saturday to rescue the Marmara Sea from an outbreak of “sea snot” that is alarming marine biologists and environmentalists.
A huge mass of marine mucilage, a thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms, has bloomed in Turkey's Marmara, as well as in the adjoining Black and Aegean Seas.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said untreated waste dumped into the Marmara Sea and climate change had caused the sea snot bloom. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with some 16 million residents, and five other provinces, factories and industrial hubs border the sea.
Marine mucilage has reached unprecedented levels this year in Turkey. It is visible above the water as a slimy gray sheet along the shores of Istanbul and neighboring provinces. Underwater videos showed suffocated coral covered with sea snot.
Erdogan said he instructed the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to coordinate with relevant institutions, municipalities and universities. Teams are inspecting waste water and solid waste facilities, along with other potential sources of pollution, he said.
“We will save our seas from this mucilage calamity, leading with the Marmara Sea,” Erdogan said. “We must take this step without delay.”
Marine experts say that human waste and industrial pollution is choking Turkey’s seas. They say the rise in water temperatures from climate change is contributing to the problem.
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Relief for migraine suffers may, at long last, be imminent. With the FDA approving Eli Lilly's Emgality drug, Christi Shaw, president of Lilly Bio-Medicines, expounded on the drug's potential efficacy. The company has said it will offer the treatment to chronic migraine suffers with commercial insurance for free for a year.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Facebook announced its newest VR headset that will ship next year. "Oculus Quest" offers users the same virtual experience, but now users are able to move more freely while wearing the headset. Andrew Bosworth, VP of VR/AR at Facebook, said this is the next step in better connecting people around the world.
North Carolina is facing a new crisis a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall. Not only have millions of farm animals drowned in the initial floods. Now, flooded waste lagoons are contaminating the drinking water, explained Zoë Schlanger, environment reporter for Quartz.
Tilray, the Canadian cannabis company swiftly becoming one of the most talked-about stocks of the year, was up as much as 50 percent on Wednesday morning, leading a continued bull run in pot stocks and putting its market cap above established companies like Macy's and Viacom.
Elon Musk and SpaceX announced the company's first private passenger, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. Shannon Stirone, freelance science journalist, said that this is the first step to Musk's ultimate goal ー transporting people to Mars.
Insurers should expect losses in the tens of billions of dollars due to Hurricane Florence's rain, which will linger for days because of the system's slow movement, said Mark Watson, CEO of Argo Group.
Natural disasters, hurricanes especially, were once opportunities for administrations to flex their leadership and empathy muscles. When they failed (see: Bush, Katrina), the results were politically devastating. When they succeeded (see: Christie, Sandy), they launched runs for office. Those days appear to be over.
