Social, structural and economic assessment of crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus Eschscholtz, 1823) hunting in the Cildir Lake

This study was carried out to investigate the socio-economic analysis of fishermen of Çıldır Lake (Ardahan/Kars) cooperative. It has been determined that all fishermen are members of these cooperatives and that they are not members of any other non-governmental organization. It has been determined that the ages of fishermen vary between 34 and 74, 100% are married and their spouses are between 20 and 70 years old. They were found to be primary school graduates with a rate of 74%. 65.21% of fishermen received a special training on their professions. It was found that 17.4% of fishermen had no sources of income other than fishing, and the remaining 82.6% were active in agriculture, animal husbandry or other fields. It is generally determined that they have 1 boat, the majority of the boats are 6 m in length and made of iron. It was seen that 43.47% of family members participated in hunting activities. Ownership of all of the boats belonged to the fishermen themselves and 30.4% of them were informed that they were receiving them with the help of their boat families. It was found that fishermen used pinters in crayfish hunting and fennel nets in fish hunting. Although Çıldır Lake fishermen 's professions are found to be economically inadequate, it has been determined that 14 fishermen with 60.87% of their income are happy to do this job due to their presence in one or more of the reasons for additional income, habit, passion / hobby.