Turkey is surrounded by seas on three sides and has a coastline of 8,333 kilometres (5,178 mi), and its natural lakes make up approximately 10,000 km 2, with 3,442 km 2 of reservoirs, and 178,000 km rivers. Per capita fish consumption is low in Turkey despite being surrounded by seas.
Fishing is carried out in the Turkish territorial waters of the
Black Sea,
Aegean Sea and the
Mediterranean, in
the Sea of Marmara and the straits (
Bosphorus and
Dardanelles) and inland waters. The coastline of Turkey, surrounded by seas on three sides, is 8,333 kilometres (5,178 mi).
Territorial waters are 12 miles (19 km) out from the Mediterranean and Black Seas coastlines, and 6 miles (10 km) out in the Aegean Sea. The Marmara and the Turkish Straits with an area of 11,500 km 2 are considered Turkey's inland waters. Its natural lakes are approximately 10,000 km 2, with 3,442 km 2 of reservoirs, and 178,000 km rivers.[4] Fishing in the
Aegean Sea is mainly coastal.[5]
Without proper planning
fishing ports can disturb the coastline.[6]
Species
200 fish species live in the Sea of Marmara, 300 in the Aegean Sea, 247 in the Black Sea, and 500 in the Mediterranean. There are about 100 fish species that have economic value and are caught.[4] Commercially caught fish include
anchovy, sardine, mackerel, bonito, sprat, haddock, bream mackerel, and bluefish.[7] Anchovies are the most caught fish, followed by Atlantic bonito and pilchard.[2]Artisanal fishing includes
ice fishing in
Lake Çıldır.[1]
Per capita fish consumption is very low in Turkey, despite being on a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides. Annual fish consumption in Turkey is 8 kg,[15] the world average is 16 kg, EU average 26 kg.[16] The reasons for low fish consumption include a lower income level compared to other countries with larger seafood consumption, a high population with low domestic production, fluctuating seafood prices, and a strong cultural preference for fresh fish.[17] However the government is promoting fish eating.[18]
In 2018, 600 thousand tonnes of fish (including molluscs and crustaceans) were produced, worth USD 1,481 million. 76% of this value came from aquaculture and 24% from fisheries. In 2018, twice as much was exported as imported: there were 15 thousand ships totalling 170 thousand tonnes 90% of which were shorter than 12 m.[3] Most government support was for management, control and surveillance and infrastructure.[3]
There are over 400 marine
aquaculture facilities.[19]Sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and
sea bream (Sparus aurata) are farmed, and mostly trout (
rainbow trout and
brown trout) in inland waters, these 3 being the most farmed, with about 150 thousand tonnes a year of each.[20] Aquaculture overtook fishing in 2020, with
Muğla,
İzmir and
Elazığ being the top provinces.
Government support is provided, although subsidies for seabream and seabass ended in 2016.[19] In 2021, US$1.2 billion worth of farmed fish were exported,[21] and Turkey was the worlds top producer of seabass and seabream.[19] Most exports are to the EU and EU directives are followed.[19]