Page 175 - 7. State Of Environment Report Of Türkiye

to establish pollution monitoring programmes at national/international level.

With the monitoring programmes, it is envisaged to determine the change in water quality in
the coastal zone, which is affected by land-based pollutants at different levels in our seas, and to
evaluate the risks posed by anthropogenic pollution on the marine ecosystem.

Eutrophication in the Black Sea and Marmara Sea caused by increasing terrestrial pollutants af-
ter the 1970s has created irreversible new ecological features in these seas.

Similar eutrophic conditions started to be observed especially in the Adriatic, Aegean and Baltic
seas in the 1970s. In this framework, initiatives for regular integrated coastal and marine moni-
toring studies gained momentum and ecosystem-based management approach and integra-
ted monitoring approach were introduced in the 2000s with the EU Water Framework Directive
(WFD), which introduced a holistic approach to basin management and monitoring, and the EU
Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which aims to bring European marine waters to
“Good Environmental Status” by 2020.
The monitoring activities started in 1990s in Türkiye were combined with an integrated and
ecosystem-oriented approach in 2011 and started to be carried out under the name of “Integra-
ted Marine Pollution Monitoring Programme (DEN-İZ)”. In the national marine monitoring prog-
ramme, the strategies of the EU Water Framework Directives (2000/60/EC) and Marine Strategy
Framework Directives (2008/56/EC) have been adopted and marine monitoring activities have
reached an integrated and ecosystem-oriented approach. In the programme, which was deve-
loped and designed in line with WFD and MSFD, monitoring and assessments are carried out in
designated coastal water bodies and marine assessment areas. Since 2014, the programme has
been continuing regularly in triennial periods without any data interruption.
With the “Integrated Marine Pollution Monitoring Programme (DEN-İZ)”, which has been carried
out regularly since 2014 in cooperation with the MoEUCC EIA, General Directorate of Environ-
mental Impact assessment, Permit and Inspection and TÜBİTAK-MAM, the pollution occurring
in all our seas is evaluated within the framework of our national legislation, Barcelona and Bu-
charest Conventions and EU directives, the basis for the measures, policies and strategies to
be taken is formed and the effectiveness of the measures taken is evaluated. The work for the
2023-2025 period of the programme, which is carried out for three years, has started.
Currently, 97 stations in the Black Sea within the framework of the DEN-IZ Programme, covering
85 coastal water bodies (23 in the Marmara Sea, 17 in the Black Sea, 24 in the Aegean Sea and 21
in the Mediterranean Sea) and 15 Marine Assessment Areas (3 in the Marmara Sea, 5 in the Black
Sea, 3 in the Aegean Sea and 4 in the Mediterranean Sea), Monitoring and evaluation studies are
carried out at 425 stations in all our seas, including 150 stations in the Marmara Sea (with the
Marmara Sea Integrated Modelling System (MARMOD) Project), 96 stations in the Aegean Sea
and 82 stations in the Mediterranean Sea. Monitoring is carried out in the Black Sea, Mediterra-
nean Sea and Aegean Sea in 2 periods per year, summer and winter, and in the Marmara Sea in 3
periods per year, spring, summer and winter.

In terms of monitoring scope, the DEN-IZ Programme includes a wide range of components such
as biodiversity monitoring, physicochemical and nutrient monitoring, radioactivity monitoring,
monitoring of pollutants in sediment and biota, monitoring of underwater noise, monitoring of cli-
mate change impacts, monitoring of marine mammals, monitoring and assessment of marine litter.
Marine monitoring data are reported to UNEP/MAP Secretariat, Black Sea Commission Secretari-
at, TURKSTAT and national institutions. At the end of each triennial programme, information and
assessments are shared with the public through summary reports and symposia.

In the new period, in order to be compatible with the MSFD and the Mediterranean Integrated

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