Authorities warn locals not to consume dead fish washed ashore in Turkish river

BURSA

Local authorities in a northwestern Turkish district have warned citizens not to take away or consume dead fish washed ashore in the Susurluk River.

“Residents said there were dead fish by the river. When we went there, what we saw were perished fish, some floating. We informed the authorities immediately,” said Rasim Acar, a village head in the Mustafakemalpaşa district in the province of Bursa, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 17. 

It was the first such incident in years, Acar said. 

Dursun Demirci, an official of the local agriculture authority, said an investigation has been launched over the fish deaths near the Çeltikçi village. 

This was not the first time Susurluk River’s pollution threatened health conditions in the region.
 
In 2008, the river was seen flowing in black and red colors due to reported waste disposed by milk and meat factories. 

Çeltikçi residents had, at the time, warned authorities that the land as well as the fish in the river were under some serious poisoning threat and conveyed this situation threatened both locals’ health conditions and agricultural production.

In a separate case in 2005, authorities said mass fish deaths were possibly caused by oily waste disposed into the river by cheese factories.

Susurluk is a river basin in the southern Marmara region and drains into the Marmara Sea.

The 321-kilometer-long water path, which has been vulnerable to industrial pollution, is also linked to the Lake Manyas, a shallow nutrient-rich freshwater lake inside a natural park that hosts 270 species of birds.