When the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme began supporting restoration between Gökova Bay and Cape Gelidonya in 2019, the ambition was to expand a model that had already shown promise in one bay and apply it across an entire coastline. Over six years, the project strengthened marine protection, expanded ranger patrols, supported fishing communities, developed new markets for invasive species and helped reconnect ecosystems along 500 kilometres of Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast.
Project lead Zafer Kızılkaya has spent more than a decade working to protect Türkiye’s marine ecosystems. A conservation photographer, trained civil engineer and co-founder of Akdeniz Koruma Derneği (Mediterranean Conservation Society), he received the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of his work to establish and strengthen marine protected areas in the eastern Mediterranean. In this interview, he reflects on what it took to scale up marine restoration, the lessons learned over six years, and why he remains optimistic about the future of the Mediterranean.
Scaling up what works
When the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme began supporting restoration along Türkiye’s south-western coast, Zafer Kızılkaya and his colleagues were asking a relatively simple question. If marine protection could help ecosystems recover in Gökova Bay, could the same approach work across a much larger stretch of coastline?
The project area included more than 62,000 hectares of sea, six Special Environmental Protection Areas and habitats ranging from Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows to rocky reefs and coralligenous habitats. It also included fishing communities facing many of the same challenges that had shaped the early years of work in Gökova.
One of the advantages, Kızılkaya says, was that local communities no longer had to rely solely on scientists or conservationists to explain why protection mattered.
“When we started replicating the model through the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme, fishers from Gökova came with us to other areas. We didn’t need to convince people ourselves. Fishers were convincing other fishers.
“At the beginning there had been a lot of disagreement. We had some difficult conversations and plenty of scepticism. But once people saw the results for themselves, the discussion changed completely.”
The project helped create or expand eighteen no-fishing zones between 2019 and 2023, while strengthening protection across a much larger area of coastline. For Kızılkaya, however, the most important change was not measured in hectares.
“In three major marine protected areas, we established new highly protected zones in collaboration with local communities and government agencies. By 2020 those areas had been formally designated, and we had almost tripled the amount of protected marine area in Türkiye after Gökova.”
Protection beyond the map
One lesson that emerged repeatedly during the project was that legal protection alone is never enough.
Maps, management plans and official designations all have their place, but ecosystems only benefit when regulations are enforced. For that reason, the expansion of the marine ranger programme became one of the defining features of the project.
“The Coast Guard was dealing with migration, human trafficking and refugee crossings. They told us that marine conservation simply wasn’t a priority.
“So we decided to create our own marine ranger programme. We bought two boats and trained former fishers because they knew the coastline better than anyone else. They knew where illegal fishing happened, how people operated and what signs to look for.”
What began as a small initiative developed into a much larger operation during the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme project. Patrol coverage expanded, ranger stations were established and stronger relationships were built with government agencies.
“Over the years, enforcement became bigger and stronger. We added larger boats, trained more rangers and established ranger stations in different locations. Right now we have eight boats and several ranger bases, and we’re already preparing to expand into another protected area.
“It was a very difficult period. Our rangers were shot at. Our rangers were beaten. This is dangerous work, definitely. But they never stopped.”
By 2023, the project had conducted 1,145 patrols and increased marine patrol coverage by 39%. Illegal fishing incidents in Gökova Bay fell by around 80%, providing one of the clearest examples of how stronger enforcement can support ecological recovery.
Seeing recovery in the water
Monitoring programmes have tracked changes in fish biomass, trophic webs, monk seal populations and other indicators throughout the project. Yet some of the most compelling signs of recovery have come from people spending time on the water.
“We started hearing from fishing cooperatives that catches were improving. Some fishers were reporting much better catches than they had seen in years. After a while it became impossible to ignore because the changes were happening season after season.”
As fish populations recovered, larger predators began returning as well.
“The apex predators came back. We now have sharks in the marine protected area throughout the year. As far as we know, it’s the only marine protected area in the Mediterranean where sharks are present year-round.”
The return of Mediterranean monk seals has been another encouraging sign. More than 36 individuals have now been recorded within the project area, supported by increasingly sophisticated monitoring systems.
“Monk seals are a really important part of my life. Years ago, I cared for an orphaned monk seal, so I’ve always felt a strong connection to them.
“We now have real-time cameras in monk seal caves, and artificial intelligence can identify individual animals. We can recognise nineteen different monk seals using these sites.”
What makes this particularly remarkable, he says, is that the wider coastline has not become quieter or less busy.
“Tourism has grown. The number of boats visiting these areas has increased. There is still fishing pressure in many places, yet monk seal numbers have continued to rise. That tells us something important about what protection can achieve.
“People often underestimate how quickly the sea can respond. On land, restoration can take decades. In the ocean, with proper protection and enforcement, you can start seeing changes within three or four years.”
The lionfish phone call
Not all of the project’s achievements came from protecting native species. Some emerged from trying to find practical solutions to new challenges.
As sea temperatures increased across the eastern Mediterranean, invasive Indo-Pacific species became more common. Lionfish were among the most visible examples.
“At first, we only saw one or two lionfish and they seemed almost harmless. Then within a few years they were everywhere. They had become large, abundant predators feeding on juvenile fish and changing the ecosystem.”
Like many conservationists, Kızılkaya was concerned about their impact. He also wondered whether they might represent an opportunity.
“One day we caught a lionfish and I noticed how white the flesh was. It looked like a high-quality fish, and I started wondering whether there might be a market for it.”
He called a friend who was a Michelin-starred chef in Istanbul.
“I told him, ‘We’ve got this fish and its numbers are increasing everywhere. Would you like to try it?’ He told me to send five kilos.”
A week later, the chef called back.
“He said, ‘This fish is amazing. The texture is excellent, the quality is excellent, and if you can supply it consistently, I’ll put it on the menu immediately.’
“Then other chefs started calling us. Restaurants became interested. The whole thing started snowballing.”
Since 2020, around 18 tonnes of invasive species have been harvested through the project, while more than 1,000 small-scale fishers have received support and training to participate in the market.
“Today we’re supplying more than thirty restaurants, and there is actually more demand than we can meet.”
Connecting a 500-kilometre coastline
As the project expanded across the coastline between Gökova Bay and Cape Gelidonya, connectivity became one of its central ideas. Protecting individual sites remained important, but the team was increasingly focused on how species moved between habitats and how those habitats functioned as part of a larger seascape.
“If you only protect one area, eventually many species have to leave it. Fish migrate. Sharks migrate. Many species move seasonally. Once they leave that protected area, they are exposed to fishing pressure again.”
The project therefore focused on strengthening ecological connections between habitats and protected areas.
“That’s why we need ecological corridors. We need enough connected habitat for species to reach maturity, reproduce and complete their life cycles.
“Monk seals can travel hundreds of kilometres. Sharks move between different habitats. These animals don’t recognise the boundaries we draw on maps. What matters to them is whether suitable habitat exists across the wider seascape.”
For a project spanning 500 kilometres of coastline, connectivity became a way of thinking about restoration beyond individual protected areas.
Living with a changing Mediterranean
Climate change remains a constant theme throughout the conversation. Kızılkaya speaks about warming seas not as a future threat but as something that is already reshaping the eastern Mediterranean, altering habitats and creating opportunities for new species to establish themselves.
“The eastern Mediterranean is gradually becoming more tropical, and we are witnessing that transformation in real time. Every year we see new species appearing, and we know sea temperatures will continue to rise. That’s one of the biggest challenges we face because these changes are happening across the entire region.”
Years of monitoring carried out through the project have nevertheless produced some encouraging findings. One of the more surprising results has been the difference between protected and unprotected areas when it comes to invasive species.
“One of the most interesting results we’ve seen is that fully protected areas contain significantly fewer invasive species than unprotected areas. At first glance that doesn’t seem logical because nobody is fishing there. You might expect invasive species to thrive in those areas as well.”
“What we see instead is that when ecosystems recover, the predators return. Groupers return. Larger fish return. Those species help control invasive populations. Protected areas don’t stop invasive species arriving, but they do make ecosystems more resilient. The healthier the ecosystem becomes, the better it is able to cope with these pressures.”
Looking ahead
The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme project formally concluded in 2025, but the work itself is continuing.
New initiatives focused on marine ecosystem connectivity are already underway, while efforts to strengthen seagrass protection, improve management and expand restoration continue across the region.
“The government now has momentum to replicate some of these approaches in other areas as well. Protecting seagrass habitats, regulating anchoring and improving management all bring benefits for biodiversity and local communities.”
Asked what gives him hope, Kızılkaya points to the growing network of people working on marine restoration around the world.
“There are now amazing projects all over the Mediterranean and all over the world. Fifteen years ago, it felt like everyone was working in isolation. Today there is a real community. People share ideas, learn from each other and support each other.”
For all the challenges facing the Mediterranean, he keeps returning to one simple observation. The project has shown what can happen when ecosystems are given an opportunity to recover.
“We’ve seen fish populations return, we’ve seen communities benefit and we’ve seen species come back. That gives me hope.
“We will do this. There is no other way.”
To find out more about Gökova Bay to Cape Gelidonya, visit their project page. This article was written as part of a series for Restoration Works, an ambitious communications campaign celebrating the achievements of the first seven projects supported by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme.
This article was written by Iona Haines, Communications and Network Coordinator, Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme.
