11. TURKEY

This country report was written by Hayri Deniz, Former Director of Marine Aquaculture, DG for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Ankara, Turkey.

11.1 Introduction

Turkey is a peninsula, and has a wide selection of lakes, dam lakes, ponds, reservoirs, rivers and springs, it has a major potential for aquaculture. With a coastal line of 8 333 km and 177 714 km of rivers, the marine and inland water sources suitable for aquaculture are approximately 26 million ha (Tables I and II). It is known that there are 247 species in the Black Sea, 200 in the Sea of Marmara, 300 in the Aegean Sea and 500 in the Mediterranean. However, only few species of commercial interest represent almost the 60 percent of the total Turkish production (Deniz & Karasubenli, 2010).

 

Turkey view from the space
Table I: Sea resources in Turkey (Source: MoFAL)

Official figures indicate that total fisheries production in 2009 was 623 191 tonnes (Table III), comprising 76 percent fisheries and 26 percent aquaculture (Deniz, 2010).

Table III: Fishery and aquaculture production in Turkey in 1998-2010 (tonnes)