"Marine Integrated Pollution Monitoring Program (DEN-IZ)", owned by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, will be carried out in the marine and coastal waters of our country for 3 years under the coordination of TÜBİTAK MAM Climate Change and Sustainability Vice Presidency (BYİDS) Marine Research and Technologies Research Group in cooperation with universities and public institutions.
The project contract was signed by Mehrali Ecer, Director General of EIA, Permit and Inspection, and Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yozgatlıgil, Vice President of TÜBİTAK and President of TÜBİTAK MAM, at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change in Ankara on 30 May 2023.
Coastal and river transit waters and offshore stations to be monitored
Monitoring activities in coastal and river passage waters and offshore stations in the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and Straits, Mediterranean and Aegean Sea will be carried out through TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Ship and in cooperation with universities and other research institutions. The marine studies to be carried out are planned for 3 periods in the Marmara Sea and 2 periods per year in other seas. Especially in the Black Sea, monitoring activities will be carried out in 7 different lines up to 30 miles in the sea waters under our wide jurisdiction.
The DEN-İZ Program will determine the nature and extent of pressures on hydrographic conditions, biodiversity and natural food webs in the seas, such as pollution, eutrophication, fisheries, alien species, solid waste and noise intrusion, and the impacts caused by these pressures. In addition to the operation and management of pilot-scale advanced monitoring systems where real-time water quality, hydrodynamic properties and underwater noise can be monitored with marine buoys, studies will be carried out for marine monitoring and evaluation of data and images provided by existing satellites. In addition, there will be evaluations on the effects of climate change on the seas.
Physical and chemical properties, pollution and ecological status of our seas are monitored
In addition to the point water column studies planned to be carried out at approximately 376 stations, a total of 82 macro flora, 88 trawl biodiversity (fish) and solid waste, 2 commercial species of fish at 40 trawl stations and also pollutants at 5 mussel stations, 4 seagrass meadows, 4 coastal solid waste studies will be carried out. In addition to the biological components, 81 macrozoobenthos, 117/66 phytoplankton/zooplankton studies will be carried out and the levels of pollutants will be determined commonly in a total of 120 sediment stations and comparisons will be made with previous years.
Monitoring of radioactivity levels in sediment and water samples will continue at 17 stations in Turkey's seas and microplastic studies will be carried out at 33 stations.
The DEN-İZ Program aims to monitor the physical and chemical properties, pollution and ecological status of our seas, and to make knowledge-based assessments for the determination of national marine management policies and strategies. As a result of these studies, environmental status reports will be prepared for the seas.
At the end of the program, "IV. National Marine Monitoring and Assessment Symposium" will be organized. At the symposium, the results of monitoring studies and marine pressures will be shared with public institutions, universities, non-governmental organizations, municipalities and other relevant stakeholders who are the beneficiaries and stakeholders of the seas in question.
