Fish catch in Turkey outside fish farms has fallen by 50 percent between 2000 and 2024, says Prof. Mustafa Sarı from “Bandurma Onyedi Eylül“ University to “Hürriyet Daily News“, writes BTA.
He reported that currently the total annual production of aquaculture products in the country is 800 thousand tons, of which 300 thousand are wild caught and 500 thousand come from farms.
For comparison, in 2000 In 2011, only 60 thousand tons of fish were produced in fish farms, but 600 thousand tons were harvested from wild catches, i.e. wild catches have decreased by half.
The expert explained that despite the fact that Turkey currently has excellent development of fish farms, this is not necessarily positive, because to grow 1 kg of sea bream, sea bass or trout, 2.5 to 6 kg of fish (for food) are needed and there will be no prospect for artificial fish breeding if the stocks in the sea are depleted.
„In terms of aquaculture resources, Turkey currently has a leading role in Europe. If you order sea bream in Belgium, there is an 80 percent chance that it came from our South Aegean region. While (on the one hand) this is positive, (on the other) we need to protect our stocks to ensure the long-term sustainability of fish populations in our seas“, says Prof. Sar”.
He warned that the problem exists and that wild catches will continue to decline and species such as anchovy, horse mackerel and sea bass will disappear if ecosystem-based aquaculture is not established.
“Fish populations will continue to decline and species that we have never eaten or liked before will enter the market if we do not make a transition to ecosystem-based aquaculture management”, says the expert.
He stressed the need to create a plan to temporarily limit the amount of catches, while maintaining a certain level of support for the aquaculture industry as a precautionary measure.