Fisheries hunting season ends today

Istanbul Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Suat Parıldar conducted inspections at the Gürpınar Fisheries Market due to the fisheries hunting season ending tomorrow. Making a press statement after the inspection, Parıldar provided information about the activities carried out throughout the season to ensure sustainable fishing, combat illegal hunting, and support the fisheries sector.

Stating that they said "bismillah" with the fishermen as of September 1st last year, Istanbul Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Suat Parıldar said, "Today is the closing day of the 2024-2025 hunting season. We had said 'bismillah' with our fishermen as of September 1st. In this sense, as of April 15th, our entire season will be completed in terms of industrial fishing. We are carrying out hunting activities in Istanbul with our 16 thousand 450 fishermen and 2 thousand 3 licensed vessels. 74 of our 2 thousand 3 licensed vessels consist of ships over 30 meters.

143 of them consist of our fishing vessels between 12 and 30 meters, and our other boats consist of boats under 12 meters. We also provide shelter opportunities for our fishermen and boats in our 48 fishing shelters. With our 661-kilometer coastline, we are in an important fisheries production area, especially when we evaluate together that the straits are on the migration route of fish, both from the Black Sea to the Marmara and from the Marmara to the Black Sea, twice a year," he said.

"40 THOUSAND TONS OF FISHERIES LANDED"

Pointing out that Istanbul is an important province in terms of fisheries, Parıldar said, "According to 2024 TUIK data, over 420 thousand tons of fisheries production took place in our country, and approximately 40 thousand tons of this were landed from Istanbul. If we evaluate the period between September 1, 2024, and April 15, we can mention that we obtained approximately 40 thousand tons of products. Looking at it from this perspective, the Gürpınar Fisheries Market, where we are currently located, provides a significant advantage both because it is the largest market in Europe and because it is located in our Istanbul. Again, when we look at the figures from September 2023 to March 2024, in addition to the approximately 51 thousand tons of fish and fisheries products offered for sale here, there was also a sale of approximately 55 thousand tons of fisheries products from September 2024 to the end of March 2025, which is an increase of 8.9 percent. We are also making support payments within the scope of registering small-scale fishermen, which we call registering coastal fishing, by our Ministry. For this reason, 1 thousand 443 of our fishermen received a support payment of approximately 6 million 750 thousand liras as of 2024," he said.

"WE INVITE YOU TO OUR DISTRICT DIRECTORATE"

Stating that support applications will end on April 25, Suat Parıldar said, "2025 applications will also end as of April 25. Therefore, let us make an announcement to our fishermen here; we invite them to our nearest provincial or district directorate, taking into account that 2025 applications will end on April 25. Currently, 1 thousand 190 of our fishermen have applied as of now, and they have already qualified for support of over 10 million 500 thousand. Our forecast is that with the applications as of April 25, we will provide approximately 13 million in entitlements and support to our fishermen. Of course, I would also like to express this here; especially in the new support model, we provide extra support to our female farmers, female breeders, female fishermen, young farmers, young breeders, and young fishermen. Therefore, support rates for our women are 35 percent higher," he said.

"WE IMPOSED 7.5 MILLION LIRAS IN PENALTIES"

Emphasizing that it is important to ensure the sustainability of fishermen earning their living from this field today, just as they did in the past, Parıldar said, "We have carried out approximately 11 thousand 500 inspections since the hunting season began on September 1st. As a result of these inspections, we imposed approximately 7.5 million liras in penalties for 124 irregularities and confiscated 23.5 tons of products, preventing them from being traded. Therefore, for us, sustainability and compliance with legal regulations within the framework of the Fisheries Law No. 1380 are very important. In this respect, we carry out these inspections 24/7, together with our provincial directorate's control teams, the Coast Guard Marmara and Straits Command, the gendarmerie, the Police Department, and the municipal police, and we are performing a very important task in terms of sustainability," he said.

"A VERY VALUABLE PLACE IN TERMS OF FISHERIES"

Underlining that there were revolutionary changes in the Fisheries Law No. 1380 in 2020, Parıldar reported that they also confiscated the production tools used in illegal hunting. Stating that they have confiscated 230 vessels engaged in illegal hunting since 2020 and transferred their ownership to the public, Parıldar said, "I would also like to state that as of January 1, 2024, our Ministry has switched to Agricultural Production Planning, and we implemented the agricultural production planning we started on January 1, 2024, in both fisheries and livestock, in crop production as of September 2024. A 400 thousand-ton anchovy quota has been defined in Turkey for fisheries, and the amount falling to our Istanbul province is approximately 83 thousand tons with our 128 fishing vessels that applied. In this respect, our Istanbul is in a very valuable place in terms of fishing and fisheries," he said.