Lack of inspection mechanism in Turkish fishery and aquaculture hurts sector
Turkey will run out of fish in the near future if the government does not authorize private institutions, such as cooperatives, to conduct inspections particularly against over-fishing, experts have said.
Fishery provides beneficial nutrition to humans, raw materials for several industries and also creates employment opportunities. Turkey has a significant potential in this field as it is located in a prime spot, lying between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and with a total coastline of 8,333 kilometers (approximately 5,000 miles), according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Despite the absence of up-to-date data, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that average fishery yield is around 600,000 tons per year in Turkey, most of which is consumed in the country itself. Eighty percent of total fish production is obtained out at sea, 7 percent from inland waters and 1 percent comes from aquaculture.
One of the most important problems in the fishing sector is the lack of control in preventing overfishing. Because Turkey only offers one type of fishing license, many fishermen work to catch any kind of fish with this one license. Moreover, technology has improved over time and, in line with this, fishing vessels have gotten bigger, reaching up to 64 meters in length. With more vessels in the water, more fish have been caught during fishing season compared to years past.
Several suggestions have been proposed to cope with problems in the fishery sector. Some urge preparing and implementing a “fishing supervision plan” to control excessive hunting, while others go further and suggest stopping fishing for three to five years so that some species of fish can recuperate instead of becoming extinct.
Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Ramazan Özkaya, chairman of the Ankara-based Central Union of Sea Products Cooperatives (SÜR-KOOP), said an urgent problem that needs to be addressed is the absence of a supervisory mechanism for fish production. He underlined that there is no public organization that controls hunting and fish inventory. “A legal arrangement that gives cooperatives the authority to monitor and inspect fishermen and fish production in Turkey is essential to preventing overfishing. Fishermen can at present hunt as much as they want to save their day. SÜR-KOOP is ready to assign personnel to any vessel to control production, so long as we are given supervisory authority,” Özkaya said.
Moreover, he added that many fishermen have high debts they cannot repay. The SÜR-KOOP chairman noted that the government should also focus on restructuring the debts of this group of people since they contribute TL 3 billion per year to the national economy.
Özkaya touched upon the informal economy in the fisheries sector and said the amount stands at around TL 500 million per year. “We predict informal fish production amounts to 1 million tons per year in Turkey. The government can record this amount by supporting fishermen and allocating a premium for every kilogram of fish catch,” he said.
Also speaking with Sunday’s Zaman, Professor Bayram Öztürk from İstanbul University said the basic problem in the fishery sector is the absence of state policies to protect the sector. “Can you imagine a country like Turkey, surrounded by water, importing bothus (turbot) from Ukraine, shrimp from Malaysia and dogtooth grouper from Mauritania? The fish section of the state-owned Meat and Fish Institution [EBK] should be reopened. This would give people the opportunity to get safe fish at a good price again,” Öztürk said.
Moreover, Öztürk, who also heads the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV), noted that excessive hunting and poaching should be prevented by improving control mechanisms, which are currently insufficient. “We should also care more about our seas because pollution is rapidly increasing and constitutes a threat to sea life,” Öztürk said. “Fishing cooperatives should be made stronger, thereby leading to a better business organization,” he added.
Global warming is also a threat to the future of some fish species. Experts say they have found in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean many species of fish that have come from the Red Sea. Professor Ertuğ Düzgüneş from Karadeniz Technical University (KATÜ) said in an earlier statement that sea snails and Red Sea pufferfish came to the Black Sea due to rising water temperatures.
Fish species numbers in Turkey’s waters
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data show there are around 170,000 species of fish in the world but that only 500 are economically important. In Turkey, including its inland and marine water resources, there are 247 species in the Black Sea, 200 in the Sea of Marmara, 300 in the Aegean Sea and around 500 in the Mediterranean Sea, but only 10-15 of these species are of economic importance. Moreover, there are 200 natural lakes in Turkey with a surface area of 9,061.18 square kilometers, 159 reservoirs with a total surface area of 3,423.77 square kilometers, 750 ponds with an area of 155 square kilometers as well as 33 lakes of various sizes.
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