A legislation passed by the Istanbul Development Agency (İSTKA) yesterday could mean vessels in the Bosphorus being subject to emission inspections and fines for the use of highly pollutant fuels.

ISTKA will join forces with the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) to design a feasibility study to identify heavy polluters among strait traffic. Under the new legislation, suspect vessels will then be required to have their emissions measured by authorities, according to Turkey’s Today’s Zaman.

“We find this (project) essential and will be offering our support,” ISTKA Secretary-General, Abdulmecit Karatas, told Today's Zaman on Monday.

“ISTKA currently plans to allocate TL 1 million to the project in the hopes of creating a functioning system for measuring maritime emissions and fining vessels deemed to be using “cheap and highly pollutant fuels,” he added.

The Bosphorus remains one of the most important shipping channels in the world and is journeyed by nearly 50,000 vessels each year.

However, the growing number of ships navigating the Bosphorus and its effect on the quality of Istanbul’s air is a matter of deep concern to both environmental campaigners and city officials.

Project coordinator and geology professor at the ITU, Tayfun Kindap, told Today’s Zaman that maritime emissions are a great threat to the inhabitants of Istanbul.