Assessment of goatfish fisheries in Turkey based on the official landing statistics

Five goatfish (Mullidae) species are distributed along the coasts of our country, and commercial catches of three species, the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), surmullet (Mullus surmuletus) and goldband goatfish (Upeneus moluccensis) are recorded. In context of this thesis, the temporal and spatial changes of goatfish landings were investigated and the contribution of different fishing methods to the total landings were assessed based on the open access data set and microdata set of officially recorded landing statistics by Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK). The results of the study showed that the total goatfish landings were increasing in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea between 1967-2019. While the landings were stable in the Black Sea, a decreasing trend was observed in the Marmara Sea. Regarding to the spatial distribution of the landings, the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Black Sea coasts were found to be highly important in goatfish fishery. While most of the goatfish catches in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Sea were covered by large scale fishers whose boat length was over 10m, the contribution of small-scale fishers was higher in the Marmara Sea. Bottom trawl was found the most commonly used fishing gear in all seas except the Marmara Sea.