As part of our ongoing project on small-scale fisheries, we conducted fieldwork in İzmir, focusing on mapping fishing areas and categorizing methods. We explored traditional techniques, like the Turkish blanket net, alongside innovative practices such as digital fish marketing. Challenges remain due to the lack of a regional fisheries approach in current legislation.
As our project on small-scale fisheries continues, we are on the move again for fieldwork on the Aegean coasts. After our first fieldwork in the Edremit Gulf, we were in Izmir last week and visited 11 fishing co-operatives in Foça, Urla and Karaburun Peninsula.
Within the scope of this field study, we focused on mapping the fishing areas of small-scale fisheries in the region and categorising these fishing areas according to the methods and fishing gear used. Our goal is to collect comprehensive data on small-scale fishing areas on the Aegean coast and to spatially link this data with the biodiversity data of the region.
Our first impressions of the fisheries in İzmir Bay, one of the most important small-scale fishing spots of the Aegean Sea, are as follows:
- In İzmir Bay, small-scale fishermen intensively use gillnets, including locally specific versions of it. Encircling nets, gillnets and hooks and set longlines are used relatively less and only in a few locations. What makes the region special and unique is the traditional fishing method of the “Turkish blanket net”. In this method, fishing is not carried out by going to sea. Instead, approximately 3-meter-high huts built on the sea surface or rocks, along with net devices laid on the seafloor, are used to catch fish as they pass by. The nets are lifted to capture the fish during their passage. Turkish blanket nets are one of the most effective methods in terms of target species selectivity; this practice ensures that the hunting pressure on the species in marine ecosystems is kept at the lowest level. This method is still being applied in Foça, Özbek, Balıklıova, Mordoğan, İnecik, Karaburun and Tepeboz.
- Apart from traditional methods, Izmir Bay is also home to innovative practices. Urla İskele Fisheries Cooperative has a structure that will serve as a model for other fishery cooperatives with a digital marketing and sales system. With the “e-sale” application, a transparent, reliable and electronically recorded project has been implemented for the sales of fish and other seafood products. Thus, the products are offered for sale on a daily basis in a fresh manner, and the recorded electronic data establishes an internal monitoring mechanism for production and marketing. On the other hand, Balıklıova Fisheries Cooperative is making special efforts to increase the number of young members, thereby sustaining this traditional livelihood.
- As frequently mentioned in our face-to-face interviews with fishers in Edremit Bay and online interviews with fishers in regions such as Saros Bay and Güllük Bay, one of the most prominent problems in İzmir Bay is the lack of a “regional fisheries” approach in the legislation. Since periodic fishing bans are not regulated according to regional contexts, some species are allowed to be caught when they are almost in juvenile form, while some species are banned when they reach the adult form, i.e. when the catch is most reasonable in terms of the sake of both fisheries and biodiversity.
Our fieldwork reveals that traditional methods need to co-operate with today’s conditions and demands. It also reminds us once again that it is essential to give more voice and responsibility to small-scale fishers’ organisations and to build partnerships between different actors in order to protect both ecosystems and livelihoods.
Stay tuned for more upcoming activities!
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