Oğulcan Kemal Sagun, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Istanbul Fisheries and Animal Products Exporters’ Association (İSHİB), said that as a sector, they are excitedly awaiting the hunting season that will start on September 1.
Stating that they think consumers have the same expectations, Sagun said, “Our impression is that there will be plenty of bonito in our seas this year. This will be a pleasing development for both our fishermen and our citizens. In addition, although Turkey has been exporting fish to all corners of the world for many years, we have been complaining about the low consumption in the domestic market. The fact that the nets are full will also increase the fish consumption rate, which is 6-8 kilograms per person per year.”
“CONSUMERS PREFER TURKISH SALMON”
Sagun emphasized that salmon, one of the most consumed products by consumers, has been imported from Norway for years and continued as follows:
“We were paying millions of dollars for this. However, in recent years, especially as a result of the investments and development projects we have made in the Black Sea Region, the Turkish salmon we produce and export has started to take its place in our citizens’ kitchens. The fact that Turkish salmon is preferred more by consumers will ensure that the millions of dollars paid for Norwegian salmon remain in our country.”
Sagun noted that the export of Turkish salmon, which attracts great interest in foreign markets, is constantly increasing, and said that although it has only been a short time since the start of salmon exports, it has approached the levels of sea bream and sea bass, which are among the most important export products.
Sagun gave the information that when looking at the figures for the first 6 months of 2024, sea bass exports were 274.8 million dollars, sea bream exports were 252.8 million dollars, and salmon exports were 195.9 million dollars.
“WE MUST LEAVE THE FERTILE SEAS WE INHERITED FROM OUR ANCESTORS TO FUTURE GENERATIONS”
Ramazan Özkaya, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Union of Fisheries Cooperatives, also stated that bonito will be plentiful this season and said, “We think that bonito will be plentiful this year and that bonito will enter every home. We also know that anchovy is scarce in years when bonito is plentiful. Of course, there will be anchovy during the year, but it will not be as much as desired.”
Özkaya reminded that the new season started with a quota system in anchovy fishing and continued his speech as follows:
“The meat yield of anchovy has been a little low lately, due to reasons such as climate change. For this reason, we are very happy that a quota has been introduced for anchovies. In this way, anchovies will recover a little, their stocks will recover. We need to leave the abundant seas we inherited from our ancestors to future generations, so that the younger generations do not withdraw from the fishing sector. For this reason, we want this year to be error-free, accident-free, abundant and fruitful. We have seen the light of this in bonito, it will definitely be abundant and fruitful.”
Özkaya said that according to the data, approximately 274 thousand tons of anchovy were caught last year and that a quota of around 400 thousand tons was given for anchovy in the new system.
Özkaya also stated that the TBMM Fisheries and Aquatic Products Research Commission was established and that the commission visited fishermen’s shelters in the field and sought their opinions.
“CONSUMERS SHOULD NOT BUY FISH THAT DO NOT COMPLY WITH THE LENGTH BAN”
Ramazan Özkaya also warned consumers not to buy fish that do not comply with the size ban in the new season.
Özkaya said, “I think the quota will balance both the price and supply-demand. Thus, we hope that fish that comply with market rules will arrive, which will be a plus for consumers.”
