Gurpinar (İstanbul) wholesale aquatic products market: Current situation and data analysis

As in other sector, one of the important problems of the fisheries sector is marketing. Determining which seafood products are offered for sale in which years and in what quantities is one of the main questions facing the sector. Therefore, in this thesis study, the annual seafood sales data obtained from the Gürpınar Seafood Market were brought into the literature; in this way, it was aimed to reveal the changes in the quantities of seafood by years. The most important fish species in terms of sales quantities marketed at the Gürpınar Seafood Market are anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus), bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), bonito (Sarda sarda), whiting (Merlangius merlangus), hake (Merluccius merluccius), and red mullet (Mullus surmeletus). The fish species offered for sale in the Fishery Products Market in quantities not less than 100 tons between 2020 and 2024 are: anchovy, horse mackerel, bonito, bluefish, chub mackerel, bogue, mullet, sardine, shad, bullet tuna, Atlantic bonito, sea bass, gilthead seabream, trout, white grouper, salmon, whiting, red mullet, anglerfish, hake, pink shrimp, imported mackerel, and imported salmon. In this study, the physical structure and operation of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Gürpınar Seafood Market Complex and the seafood caught between January 2020 and December 2024 were examined; the annual quantities and prices of the products brought to the market, both by species and in total, in kilograms were analyzed. The total production amount of seafood from fishing in Türkiye and the production amounts of important pelagic and demersal species were compared. It was found that there were changes in the quantities of seafood released to the market by years, and that most of the seafood offered for sale originated from marine fishing. As a result, although the aquaculture sector in our country has shown developments over the years in terms of both quantity and the species being cultivated, it is still understood that the amount of seafood sales based on fishing continues to occupy a more significant place. Since the seafood market from which the study data were obtained is the largest in our country, it is thought that the results obtained here represent the quantity of seafood offered for sale in Türkiye.