Türkiye will remove and dispose of 16 million cubic meters of seabed sludge accumulated across approximately 600 hectares of Fethiye Bay within three years using two dredging vessels, COP31 President and Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch event for the “Mooring Buoy System and Fethiye Seabed Sludge Cleanup” project in Fethiye is a district in Muğla Province, southwestern Türkiye, Kurum said Fethiye Bay is one of the most valuable treasures of Muğla and even the entire Mediterranean.
Kurum said decades of intensive use of the Bay, uncontrolled anchoring and sludge accumulated on the seabed have brought the rich underwater ecosystem to the point of suffocation and cast a shadow over the Bay’s clear blue waters.
He said Türkiye is moving beyond temporary solutions by securing the Göcek and Dalaman bays in Muğla province with a mooring buoy system covering approximately 90 kilometers of coastline within the Fethiye-Göcek Special Environmental Protection Area, while also launching a major seabed cleanup campaign.
Kurum said the project may initially appear to be a technical undertaking, but its significance is much broader. He noted that dropping an anchor takes only a few seconds, while a chain dragged along the seabed can destroy seagrass beds that have developed over many years.
“We have installed 926 fixed mooring points and 906-ton concrete sinkers to replace heavy anchors randomly dropped in our bays and damaging the seabed. We are also establishing the DERIA system, a digital platform that brings inspections, real-time water quality monitoring and the management of mooring points under one roof," Kurum said.
He also added that DERIA would serve as the “Google Maps of the sea,” allowing sailors to view available mooring points, check their suitability and make reservations, while preventing uncontrolled anchoring and protecting marine life.
“We are not simply installing mooring points or buoys here; we are building order, security and a future,” Kurum said, adding that the project also includes cleaning years of accumulated seabed sludge in Fethiye Bay.
“We will work with two dredging vessels to remove 16 million cubic meters of seabed sludge accumulated across approximately 600 hectares within three years. Once completed, the inner Bay will reach an average water depth of 3.4 meters,” he said.
Kurum stressed that the project is aimed at protecting the bays, cleaning the Gulf and strengthening its ecosystem.
“The approach we are demonstrating here is the reflection at sea of the environmental mobilization we are carrying out across Türkiye. None of us has forgotten the scourge of mucilage, that nightmare that engulfed the Sea of Marmara and Istanbul,” Kurum said.
He said the government did not simply collect the foam from the surface at the time, but instead addressed the root causes of the problem and took action to save the Sea of Marmara.
Kurum said the government is also carrying out a major seabed sludge cleanup operation in the Izmit Bay, northwestern Türkiye, implementing a 15-point Emergency and Short-Term Action Plan for the Izmir Bay, Western Türkiye, and has completed most of a project prepared for Lake Eğirdir, southwestern Türkiye.
Kurum also recalled that Türkiye will host COP31, saying the country will present not only targets but also practical projects, including the Fethiye Bay cleanup, the mooring buoy system and the seabed sludge removal campaign in the inner Bay.
He said Türkiye will also showcase its work on the Sea of Marmara, the Zero Waste initiative, the deposit-return system and other projects at COP31.
“We will be a country that implements solutions. We will be a country that develops models. We will be a Türkiye that shows the way,” Kurum said.
