Thousands of dead grey mullets, thought to be the victims of wastewater dispatched from the Sütlüce and Alibeyköy shores by the İstanbul Waterworks Authority (İSKİ), have been collected by the İstanbul Environment Department.
Upon complaints from locals, the municipality sent coastal cleaning teams to the shores of Sütlüce and Alibeyköy, where the teams encountered thousands of dead fish. Municipal workers launched clean-up operations and collected the dead fish in trash bags. An investigation has been launched into the incident, which sparked a wave of protests from the public.
Expressing his frustration about massive fish deaths on the Golden Horn, a local was quoted as saying: “We encountered several dead fish that washed ashore. The seawater is so polluted that nothing can live in it. The Golden Horn was totally clean until the last two days. They are saying either the İSKİ filter has failed or that sewage from the Kağıthane district has mixed with the seawater. We demand that the authorities solve this environmental problem as soon as possible.”