Massacre by 10,000 "Ghost Nets" in Lake Hirfanlı

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 25 July 2022)

         Whatever happened to hook, line and sinker?

Teams from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests Fisheries and 

Maritime Products General Directorate have retrieved 10,000 "ghost

nets" from Lake Hirfanlı, located between Ankara and Kırşehir.  

Thousands of creatures were found dead in the nets.  

Director Altuğ Atalay explained that fishermen at the lake assisted his

teams, adding that "we expected to retrieve 300-400 nets from a lake

of this size, but finding 10,000 means that the entire floor of the lake

was covered with these nets.  We are clearing lakes of these nets all

over the country because they are so harmful to our economy and to the

creatures living in the lakes.  So far we have cleared 545,000 square

meters of  these nets.  With the 10,000 from Lake Hirfanlı, the total

number of "ghost nets" retrieved has reached 25,000.  We estimate 

that by doing this we have saved at least 1.7 million creatures from 

death. In the Sea of Marmara, we are clearing "ghost nets" covered 

with "müsilaj" (gunk) in many places, as well."