Turkish Grand National Assembly Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Commission convened

In his opening speech, Karayel stated that each of the commission members has a bond with water, aquaculture and fisheries and said, “Because of this bond of love, each of us works and strives to bring this sector to a better place.” he said.

Commission Chairman Karayel explained that the commission will listen to the presentation of the General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and determine the work schedule today.

Mustafa Altuğ Atalay, General Manager of Fisheries and Aquaculture, In his presentation to the commission, he shared the information that there are approximately 530 fish species in Turkey’s seas and 380 in its inland waters, and the number of fish species subject to commercial hunting is 100.

Providing information about the economic size of the sector, Atalay said, “Aquaculture is important in meeting the healthy nutritional needs of our people. Both our hunting and aquaculture products are healthy, we have no hesitation about this. This sector offers almost one million tons of first-class meat to our people every year, including unregistered ones. Regarding employment “Approximately 250 thousand indirect or direct citizens earn their living from this area. We have an export volume of nearly 2 billion dollars in aquatic products.” he said.

Atalay stated that Turkey reached record production in 2022, and that 515 thousand tons of the 850 thousand tons of fish in the said year were obtained from aquaculture and 330 thousand tons from hunting, and pointed out that the share of aquaculture has increased.

Stating that they are trying to keep the amount of fish caught between 300 and 500 thousand tons, Atalay said, “Our export target today is 2 billion dollars. We are making all our efforts to catch it. Our imports are approximately 313 million dollars. We give a surplus of approximately 1.3 billion dollars, that is, we are a net exporter. ” he said.

Referring to fish consumption amounts, Atalay said that while fish consumption per capita is 24 kilograms in European countries, 14 kilograms in the world, it is 7.5 kilograms in Turkey. Atalay said, “There are different reasons why this is low. First, we are culturally far away from fish. Fish consumption in coastal areas exceeds 30 kilograms, but as it moves towards Central Anatolia and Eastern Anatolia, it starts to be measured in grams.” said.

“We are first among EU countries in aquaculture”

Atalay, General Manager of Fisheries and Aquaculture, stated that the rules were determined by the communiqués they renewed every 4 years while struggling for sustainable fishing, and noted that nearly 600 illegal fishing boats were seized during the inspections against poachers and boats, which is one of the most important problems in this sector.

Stating that there are a total of 18 thousand fishing boats in Turkey, Atalay stated that 90 percent of them are smaller than 12 meters and 10 percent are larger than 12 meters. Atalay said, “They can go all over the world and do hunting. While the 90 percent of fish catch about 10 percent of the fish, big boats catch 90 percent.” said.

Stating that they monitor fishing boats electronically and impose penalties on those who do not comply with the rules, Atalay said, “We carried out 113 thousand inspections this year. We applied around 4 thousand 200 criminal proceedings and penal sanctions of 45-46 million liras.” he said.

Stating that there are 2 thousand 382 breeding farms in this sector in Turkey, Atalay said, “We have been ranked first among EU countries in aquaculture since 2020 and 17th in the world. We are first in the world in sea bass and sea bream breeding, and second in the world after Iran in rainbow trout farming.” We take part.” made his evaluations.

Atalay also stated that they are carrying out fisheries activities and said, “While we released 30 million fish in 2020, this year we are releasing 100 million fish into our seas and inland waters in memory of the 100th anniversary of our Republic. The sturgeon was now an extinct fish in our country, it had not been seen for many years; we branded 30 thousand of them and put them in our inland waters.” “We release it into our waters and seas.” he said.

Reminding that Turkish fishermen also fish in Mauritania, Atalay pointed out that Turkey should transfer its fishing power in the sector to international waters.

“There are 25 thousand tons of pearl mullet in Van Lake”

General Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture Atalay also answered the questions of the MPs.

Pointing out that new licenses are not issued for hunting boats, Atalay said that the licenses are sold for high amounts, like taxi license plates.

Stating that Marmara is a sensitive sea, Atalay stated that they only encourage mussel farming here.

Atalay stated that they were not successful in the issue of fishing shelters and that the issue was included in 8 separate laws and said, “We know that this will be in a much better position by creating a legal infrastructure and adopting the relevant institution with a certain systematic.” said.

On the other hand, Atalay also suggested establishing a high-budget and strong general directorate for this sector instead of the Ministry.

Stating that they are working on the pearl mullet in Lake Van, Atalay said, “There are 25 thousand tons of pearl mullet in Lake Van. 12 thousand tons can be caught. If it exceeds this, we can stop hunting. 9 thousand tons are caught annually. There is no situation that endangers the species due to hunting, however.” Drought is a threat.” he said.

Regarding the quota application for hunting, Atalay said, “Our quota studies are progressing extremely fast. We need to introduce a quota for anchovies and horse mackerel. We have worked on this. The world is going for this. When the quota is introduced, the fish will find its value and the fisherman will earn. Today, anchovy leaves the fishermen in 15-20 days.” “But the price on the counter is around 100 lira. I bought it for 60 lira over the weekend. Introducing a quota will also balance fish prices.” he said.

Explaining that they had two institutions prepare a report on the problems of fishing shelters, Atalay pointed out that the problems vary from region to region.

Stating that they are working with the Ministries of Health and National Education to increase fish consumption, Atalay said that they are trying to ensure that aquaculture farms are established in areas as far from the coast as possible.