Commercial fishing of anchovy banned for 10 days

ANKARA

A 10-day ban has been imposed on commercial fishing of anchovy with all kinds of fishing gear as they have not reached the desired size, according to a written statement issued by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.

“The number of undersized anchovies has risen in the Istanbul Strait and the Black Sea,” according to the statement issued on Jan. 7.

According to the ministry statement, the quality of the fish meat is also immature due to the environmental and climate change effects.

“The current situation will surely affect the anchovy stocks in the near future,” the statement said.

“Due to this, fishing anchovy in the Istanbul Strait and all of the Black Sea shores from Istanbul to Artvin will be banned between Jan. 8 and 18,” it added.

It is permitted to fish anchovy in the Marmara Sea or the west shores of the Black Sea from Istanbul to Kırklareli as the officials have not observed any threat to anchovy stocks in these areas.

The ministry also stated that the ban might restart after Jan. 18 for 10 more days if anchovies did not grow to the desired size, the state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Fishery has been a hot topic in the country as people discuss the fishing boats’ casting nets in the Istanbul Strait close to the banks of the city.

Ahmet Yavuz Karaca, the head of the Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, made a statement about their inspections in the strait on Jan. 7.

“We have been following all seine vessels fishing at seas with a tracking system called BAGIS. So, whoever disobeys the 24-meter rule is fined,” Karaca said.

“We made more than 18,000 inspections. We seized around 71 vessels as they fished without obeying rules. We also fined fishermen with 1.2 million Turkish Liras ($163,000),” he added.

Karaca also made a call to the Istanbul residents for the fishermen through Demirören News Agency.

“The regions where the fishermen cast nets in the Istanbul Strait may seem close to the shore. But according to the geological survey map of the strait, these regions are indeed deeper than 24 meters. This is the characteristic of the sea. We know exactly where the depth is 24 meters or not.”