Investigation of the current status of amateur angling in Keban Dam Lake (Elâziğ-Turkey) and fishermen's catch yields

Amateur angling has become an important activity that is increasing in popularity both in our country and in the world, making significant social and economic contributions. However, this increase has brought along an unpredictable pressure on natural fish stocks in addition to commercial fish catchers. In this context, obtaining data such as catch per unit effort and catch composition, which are extremely important for fisheries management, are the main important parameters that should be collected in both commercial and recreational fisheries in order to ensure successful fisheries management. For an effective recreational fisheries management; it is necessary to carry out activities such as data collection, data analysis, planning and execution with appropriate methods, and to carry out studies to control the current and future behaviors of recreational fishermen and other stakeholders related to recreational fishing. In this study, it was aimed to reveal some socio-demographic characteristics of amateur fishermen in addition to the data mentioned in Keban Dam Lake. In field studies, 184 amateur fishermen were surveyed in Keban Dam Lake. The average age of the fishermen was 48 ± 13 years and their average income was 29.592,00 ± 11.934,00 TL. In 2023, the fishermen spent an average of 13,060 ± 2.56 days for amateur fishing and spent an average of 1,897.00 TL for amateur angling in the same total. On the other hand, it was determined that they caught a total of 9121 kg of fish in the 2023 fishing season and caught 49.57 ± 22.35 kg of various fish species per amateur angler. With this thesis study on Keban Dam Lake, it has been determined that amateur angling has important economic indicators. In terms of sustainable fishing, these data should be taken continuously and information on how much fish is taken from the stock should be updated