Aquaculture in Turkey

Abstract

Marine and freshwater aquaculture in Turkey have grown substantially. The first trout farm was established in the 1960s and the first marine cage farm for sea bream and sea bass in 1985. From the beginning of the 1970s to 1999 the number of licensed fish farms increased from two to 1,444. Since 1995, the number of cage farms has grown to 57 and production reached 4,100 tons in 1999. Total aquaculture production grew from 3,075 tons in 1986 to 63,000 tons in 1999. Production is dominated by inland production, mainly of trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), which supplies 60% of the total.From 1995 to 1999, marine production increased from 8,494 tons to 25,230 tons. The major contributors are sea bream (Sparus aurata) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Because of the rel- atively high temperatures in the Black Sea, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), cultured from the late 1980s to 1997, is no longer grown; only rainbow trout (O. mykiss) in floating net cages is produced.Because of the growing demand caused by increased population and export, aquaculture pro- duction and consumption in Turkey are expected to grow. New fish and shellfish species, mainly marine, are being developed. The bureaucracy involved in licensing fish farms, especially in marine environments, is complicated, time-consuming, and suffers from a lack of technical knowl- edge and insufficient exchange of know-how and cooperation concerning new developments.