Despite the fact that Turkey is surrounded by seas 3 sides, both its level of fish production and consumption is quite low.
Our country has around 700 thousand tons of fish production per year, of which the majority is anchovy production, and the population’s fish consumption habit is also quite low. The increasing amount of pollution in the last 25-30 years in especially the Black Sea, which is among world’s most fertile seas, and our inland waters has led to our level of production dwindling.
With the various funds provided by the European Union for the development of the aquaculture sector. The Turkish Government has also shown improvements in terms of R&D and in terms of finances. This has brought with it an increase in awareness and efforts aimed at increasing production.
For this reason, efforts aimed at both forming a healthy population and for increasing production and employment in the sector should be supported by all non-governmental organizations and public vocational institutes. Keeping in mind that development can only be fully realized as a result of the participation of all level of society, it is clear to see that it is not only fishermen that are responsible for aquaculture, but society as a whole. With this understanding, Turkey, which is surrounded by rich waters, can achieve economic development.
Marine litter gives rise to a wide range of negative environmental, social and economic impacts causing direct or indirect damage to marine ecosystems as well as human activities and properties such as fishing and aquaculture, shipping, tourism and recreational activities (MERRAC, 2013).
Like all ecosystems, marine ecosystems are built on a balance. Interventions made to the ecosystem by various external factors cause changes in the ecosystem. Marine litter also changes the balance of the marine ecosystem and poses a threat to both living things and socio-economic and human health. Whether in macro or micro dimensions, marine litter changes the physical and chemical properties of the aquatic environment, thereby disrupting the ecological balance of the environment and causing damage to living things. Plastic/polystyrene accumulating in coasts and seas is mistaken for food, and as a result of consumption, digestion, excretion, reproduction in living things. (Laist, 1987; Derraik, 2002; Gegory, 2009; Boerger, 2010; Murray ve Cowie, 2011) For example, turtles eat plastic/polystyrene bags, which they think are jellyfish, while birds feed themselves and their young with plastic/polystyrene, which they mistakenly are fish eggs or crab. Living things that fill their stomachs by eating garbage are exposed to starvation and die from nutritional deficiency. It is known that 44% of all seabird species consume plastic/polystyrene. (Derraik, 2002) In addition, edible substances block the respiratory canal of the creature, preventing its respiration and causing it to die slowly.
It has a series of negative effects that can lead to problems, to restrict the movement of living things by entanglement, to affect their vital functions and even to terminate them. Plastic waste pieces reaching the seas cause death or suffering by clogging the digestive tracts of marine mammals, sea turtles, reptiles, fish and seabirds who think they are food.
Project team visited fishermen’s shelters and unions. The fishermen tell their common problems to the team, as International Black Sea Action Day Celebration Program makes the determination of the Chamber of Agriculture more visible and known on marine pollution. The common problem of fishermen in Trabzon is marine litter caught in nets.
In order not to harm the ecological balance in the use of natural resources, to combat marine litter effectively, to reduce solid waste at its source, to reduce marine litter by cleaning it and to prevent its formation, in coordination with relevant institutions/organizations at the regional and national level, to prevent marine litter from forming. social and cultural infrastructure needed to reduce. It is important that training and awareness-raising activities are carried out together with the relevant institutions/organizations, and action plans should be created and implemented in order to bring an integrated approach to the issue and to ensure the regularity and continuity of the studies.
Author: Fatma Sezen Katrancı – Of Chamber of Agriculture – Trapzon, Turkey
