Research for the fishing grounds in inland waters of Ankara province

In this thesis study, the fishing grounds in lakes, ponds, and dam lakes, as well as rivers in Ankara province and their usage patterns, have been identified. The data subject to the study has been obtained from General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ankara Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Directorate, Turkish Statistical Institute, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, and the academic publications and postgraduate dissertations were also benefitted from. Apart from them, the aforementioned areas have been analyzed in an observational manner and photos of them have been taken, too. Sakarya River, together with its main branch coming from Çifteler (Eskişehir), which covers a large part of Ankara province, joins by Porsuk Stream near Polatlı and then feeds the Sarıyar Dam Lake. The length of the river within the province is 168 km. The most important branches of it are Aladağ Stream, Nalderesi, Kirmir Stream and Ankara Stream. Another river passing within the borders of the province is Kızılırmak River, which is the longest river of our country. The part of 256 km of this river, which is passing from the north-east side of the province, is also within the borders of the province. Mogan, Eymir, Çubuk-Karagöl and Tuz Lake are of the most important natural lakes in the province. In the meanwhile, Çamlıdere, Eğrekkaya, Kesikköprü, Kurtboğazı, Kavşakkaya, Akyar, Çubuk 2 and Elmadağ-Kargalı Dams were used in order for drinking water supply of Ankara province. Çubuk I Dam, the first reinforced concrete dam of the Republic period in the province, had been removed from Ankara's drinking water inventory as of the date of 1994 due to heavy pollution in its reservoir. There are hydroelectric power plants named Sarıyar, Hirfanlı and Kesikköprü and they are constructed for the energy generation. Moreover, within the borders of the province, there are Asartepe, Akıncı, Çanıllı, and Doğanözü ponds for agricultural irrigation. Amateur fishing is available in the Asartepe and Çanıllı ponds, Mogan, Eymir, Çubuk-Karagöl, Kesikköprü, Kurtboğazı, Çamlıdere dam lakes. Commercial fishing is conducted in the dam lakes of Hirfanlı and Sarıyar. This said dam lakes have 4 fisheries cooperatives and 118 members. Fishermen fish carp (Cyprinus carpio), Zander (Sander lucioperca), Tench (Tinca tinca) and crawfish (Astacus leptodactylus) with higher commercial value as well as silver-gray cyprinoids (Carassius gibelio) and silverfish (Atherina boyer) with less commercial value compared to them. Besides, with a questionnaire form consisting of 25 questions, face-to-face interviews had been carried out with a total of 48 fishermen who are also the members of the 4 fisheries cooperatives active in the province on the problems and their expectations and the outcomes of these questions were examined.