Ghost net larger than Çamlıca Tower pulled from Marmara Sea

BALIKESİR

A four-day deep-sea salvage operation in the Marmara Sea has recovered a ghost net of extraordinary scale, large enough to shroud Istanbul’s 49-story Çamlıca Tower and underscoring the massive threat abandoned fishing gear poses to marine life.

The net, pulled from six separate locations off Marmara Island in northwestern Türkiye, was described by divers as spanning roughly 15,000 square meters, alongside additional entangling materials including 200 square meters of monofilament nets, 225 kilograms of lead weights, and long sections of ropes and trawl components. Once fully assembled, the recovered mass was visually comparable to more than two football fields, with officials noting it could drape the entirety of Çamlıca Tower from top to bottom.

The operation was conducted under the “Mavi Atlas” initiative, a citizen-reporting marine biodiversity platform developed by the Marine Life Conservation Society in cooperation with the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry. Reports submitted through the app triggered the intervention, which involved seven dives, adverse weather navigation and coordinated work with regional authorities.

Divers reported that the ghost nets had been trapped on rocky seabeds for years, forming near-invisible killing fields. Marine creatures, including fish, crustaceans, cuttlefish eggs, sea stars and sea cucumbers, were found entangled, many already dead. In several instances, surviving animals were carefully disentangled and released back into the sea.

Ghost nets, made of durable plastic-based materials, can persist for up to a century, continuing to trap marine organisms long after being lost or discarded. Officials estimate that millions of marine creatures are affected globally by such gear annually.

The recovered material is set to be recycled into consumer products as part of a circular economy initiative.