Posted February 2015 from M/V LeeZe

The blue card has migrated as far north as Kusadasi and should be in Izmir this boating year, but here at Çanakkale’s city marina, they do not even have a pump out station for the gulets so it has not made it to here.

But friends say that it is all the rage at the established marinas in the Istanbul area and the Sea of Marmara. However, I saw no pump out station at the two city marinas in Istanbul, nor at the fishing port at the entrance to the Straits on the Black Sea.

Some boaters are also reporting that the port people in Alanya are pressuring the gulets there to get with the program.

There are direct reports of people being fined for dumping gray water overboard in Gocek, but these people were stupid in that they used ordinary liquid dish soap when washing their dishes. Those that use the liquid dishwashing soap made for dishwashers find that soap cleans without making suds, and therefore the authorities do not bother them.

By law, in Gocek, even the gray water is supposed to be captured but enforcement is spotty at best.

Lastly, some have been harassed by others for showering with soap topside but not by the authorities. (These people are having their pictures taken and posted on Turkish boating websites of stuff not to do.)

We spent a lot of time in Greece and found pump out stations only at privately owned marinas. We wanted to do the right thing and pump out in Mytilini but it took two days for the Port Authority to find a person, then that person came and did not have the right equipment, and they wanted 150 euros also. At the private marina, it would have cost us 85 euros to pump out as that is the cost for one night stay, + water, + electricity + 15 euros for the actual pump out.

We pumped out underway.

Lee

Çanakkale, Turkey”

Posted June 2012

Subject: Mugla Province: Blue Card Waste Disposal System now in Action

This year sees the introduction of the “Blue Card” waste disposal monitoring facility in the Anatolia region.

Sailors are required to buy a card (20 lira) and have all the yachts details programmed into it, ie size of waste bin and capacity of holding tank. Using a scale based on the number of persons aboard relative to the size of the holding tank, the local authorities can work out how often you are “obliged” to have it emptied. Fines are levied for not pumping out and for not having the card.

Quite how they will enforce this development when many older yachts have no holding tanks is hard to say. To make matters further complicated, you are not allowed to pump out grey water either and cannot use detergent when washing your decks.

Marmaris Yat Marine has some information on their website, but it’s still early to see how it will affect cruising yachts.

I would recommend getting the card so at least you are in the system and won’t get a fine for not having one.

Graham Smith

SY Christina

Finike

For previous noonsite reports about the “Blue Card” scheme see here.