Marmaris

Last week's hottest news occupying international and local press about Marmaris was the funny – tragicomic, actually – story in Russian media about sharks on the coast of Marmaris.

According to Russian radio news and some Web sites, the beaches around Marmaris and Bodrum were closed off because of shark attacks! The source of the news was unknown, and some Web sites even used shark photos from different parts of the world to decorate their pages.

As expected, this shocking information provoked genuine panic among Russian and Ukrainian tourists preparing for a holiday in the area. Russian tour operators answered hundreds of phone calls from their clients asking about the situation. Tour operators and hoteliers in the area immediately asked Turkish officials for an explanation, although they knew there was not a bit of truth to the shark news.

In a written explanation, the Culture and Tourism Ministry denied the information aired by Russian press on the closing of several beaches on the Aegean coast because of sharks in the area. “Nothing of the sort is possible. No sea resorts were closed,” the ministry said. So, what did really happen and how did it turn out in the press?

All it was was a bit of “over-imaginative journalism.” The truth about sharks around Marmaris is completely different and has indeed been known for a long time. Boncuk Bay in the Gulf of Gökova was declared a protected site in 1990.

Another declaration was made by ICRAM (Italy's Central Marine Research Institute) in 2004 at a meeting of the EEA (European Elasmobranch Association) to explain the results of the observation of the sandbars in the bay. The bay hosts sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus Plumbeus) every year from May to August in what is the only known procreation area of sandbar sharks in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry's Authority for the Protection of Special Areas (ÖÇKKB) started a project in Boncuk Bay in 2007 aiming to observe, research and protect sandbar sharks, “sensitive” inhabitants of the coast. For this reason, the bay was sealed off to tourism, or any visits, a short time ago. Currently, officials in Boncuk do not allow people to enter the bay.

Under the protection rules, all kinds of fishing, swimming and scuba diving, as well as anchoring and sailing activities have been prohibited in the area along the bay marked with buoys. The project will hopefully save the sandbar sharks, which are no danger to humans, and it is a blow to the long-established tourism business in the region.

The next phase will also include the education of the people. Visitors, local people and especially fishermen will be educated by volunteers and SAD (Underwater Research Society) members in order to increase their awareness and environmental consciousness regarding sandbar sharks. A variety of marketing material including brochures, presentations, small books and VCD and DVD films will be prepared and used for this purpose.

Unfortunately, some Russian journalists misunderstood and mangled all these scientific efforts and they announced to their people “shark attacks” instead of “shark protection”! This greatly affected many people in Russia, Ukraine and other neighboring countries. Moreover, several Web sites in Germany and the UK quoted the discussions and carried the topic on their forum pages.

But it is likely the panic mood will be over in a few days after the explanations of local and national authorities. Ali Acar, mayor of Marmaris, summarized the truth in a very clear way when talking to a Ukranian TV channel about the misunderstanding on sharks, “Since my birth in Marmaris, I have never seen or heard of any sharks in our bays, except the sandbar sharks in Boncuk Bay. It would be nice to see some of them in other bays, because they really are harmless and very sensitive animals.”

The words of a British diver on a forum page prove how the Russian journalists made a big mistake by saying “sharks attacks:” “I think someone is pulling someone's chain! Although sharks are present in that part of the world, they are few and far between. I've been diving in Turkey for years and would love to come across a shark in those waters, but have failed miserably! … The waters around Marmaris don't offer the right habitat characteristics for most shark species, not ones you'd be concerned with anyway… It would be useful if they reported on species, if indeed they even know what they were. The authorities are right to be cautious, but journalism like this doesn't do anyone any good and will only harm the tourist industry.”