GRAB A TISSUE

Turkey Is Awash in Slimy Gray ‘Sea Snot’

The Marmara region, which borders Istanbul, is coated in marine mucilage.

Gross gray “sea snot” is mucking up Turkey’s waters. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that the country would immediately seek to clean up the untreated waste found in Turkey’s Marmara, Black, and Aegean Seas thought to give rise to the substance, which consists of marine mucilage visible from the surface as a thin gray sheet. Erdogan ordered the country’s Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to work with local agencies and universities to control the disaster, which has already contaminated local coral reefs. “We will save our seas from this mucilage calamity, leading with the Marmara Sea,” Erdogan said. “We must take this step without delay.” Local groups are already testing wastewater and other pollution sources to try and curb the problem. Experts say climate change has also contributed to the issue, pointing toward rising sea temperatures.