Investigation of mechanization of aquaculture farms in Trabzon

In this study, the success of mechanization usage in offshore sea cage and land based fish farms in Trabzon province was examined. It was determined that offshore net cage farms have relatively more mechanization usage than land based enterprises. The fact that the use of mercury thermometers for water temperature determination in the land based fish farms is around 60% indicates that there is awareness of the necessity of water quality monitoring. However, the lack of mechanization to prevent fish escaping at the exit of the farm to the natural water shows the lack of sustainable environmental management. The fact that only 9.4% of the surveyed enterprises have feed production systems shows satisfaction with commercial feed use, existing feed companies, feed quality and food accessibility. As a result, it has been determined that limited mechanization usage in the fish farming sector of Trabzon province, especially in land based enterprises, limits the capacity and resource usage. Lack of mechanization is likely to be overcome by ensuring the participation of farm owners and technical personnel in periodically organized fishery and agricultural fairs, and organizing meetings among academic institutions, fish farms and local authority.