Worrying sight in Izmir: The Gulf covered with dead fish.

The number of dead fish in Izmir Bay is increasing day by day. As hundreds of thousands of fish wash up dead on the shore, the heavy smell is also felt in the city. Especially in Karşıyaka and Bayraklı beaches, the bad smell caused by dead fish has made it impossible for citizens to open their windows at home and at work. In addition to fish deaths, it was observed that the color of the bay turned red. Among the dead fish are fish such as Sea Bream and Sea Bass.

"WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO BEAUTIFUL IZMIR"

Serkan Bingöl, a 50-year-old who said he was born and raised in Izmir and encountered such a situation for the first time in his life, said, "I don't understand why the authorities don't come here. Deaths occur due to pollution from factories. I am seeing such a disgrace for the first time. What have they done to beautiful Izmir," he said. Moments when some citizens collected the fish washed up on the shore and put them in bags were captured on a mobile phone camera.

INVESTIGATION INITIATED

The Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, which initiated an investigation into the matter, took samples from the water and fish where pollution was observed. Nursel Ölmez, the headman of Turan Neighborhood, said that they conducted an investigation when a bad smell came from the beach in the morning and when they saw many fish washed up on the shore, they reported the situation to the teams.

Dr. İlker Aydın, a faculty member in the Department of Fishing Technology at Ege University Faculty of Fisheries, said that it is not possible to determine a definite cause without performing an autopsy and stated, "There can be many things due to excessive heating of the waters. The lack of oxygen comes first among them. Afterwards, there may be an increase in plankton that consumes oxygen."

RESPONSIBLE PERSON EXPLAINED THE MAIN CAUSE OF FISH DEATHS

On the other hand, Deniz Bilimci Prof. Dr. Doğan Yaşar, who made a statement about the issue in the past days, said, "There has been a plankton bloom in Izmir Bay for a while. The main cause of fish deaths is plankton. There are about 1 million plankton in every liter of seawater. When the temperature and pollution in the environment increase, their numbers reach 2 million and they do not leave any oxygen in the environment. Fish die because of the toxic species among them. The first plankton bloom in Izmir Bay occurred in 1955. Unfortunately, we use Turkish seas as septic tanks."