A study of trawl and purse seine fisheries violations in sea of Turkey

There is a significant potential in marine fisheries in Turkey as a country boasting quite a fortunate geography and rich marine resources with the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea surrounding her territory. Trawl and purse seine fishing, also known as large-scale, industrial or commercial marine fishing, represents 8-9% of all fishing vessels in Turkey in number and constitutes the most productive and critical part of marine fishing as the source of 85-90% of all production in the sea. Trawl and purse seine fishing, may lead to permanent damage in the marine environment and fish stocks and to a collapse in fish populations unless kept duly under control. The volume of aquaculture sourced from the sea through fishing has not witnessed an increasing trend since the year 1985 and progressed generally along a horizontal line, whereas Turkey has exhibited a horizontally moving, but decreasing trend since the year 1989. Among the 16 statistical zones representing the study framework Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), The Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea appear as the most problematic areas by reason of their unsustainable level of stock at 62.2%. These facts, when combined with study results indicating that the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, also covering Turkey, is in a relatively poor position than the Central and Western Mediterranean reveals the increasingly grave nature of the problem at hand. One of the most important fields of activity tackled by such organisations as the FAO and GFCM for the purposes of stock sustainability is represented by efforts to combat IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing observed both at the international level and along the coastlines of individual states. Turkey is one of the countries faced with negative effects by reason of IUU fishing notably including violations arising from trawl and purse seine fishing in her own seas. The present study examines the violations in trawl and purse seine fishing in the Seas around Turkey between 2012 and 2014 through the enrichment of data retained in the Coast Guard records with data sourced from other references and with due consideration for similar studies conducted domestically or abroad. Out of 1664 violations detected in the three-year period, 1050 were observed to be related to trawl fishing and 614 to purse seine fishing and trawl violations were considered to be of more significance than purse seine violations. The smallest marine area in Turkey, i.e. the Sea of Marmara, was identified to be responsible for the highest share of violations in both trawl and purse seine fishing. 12 fishing zones in Turkey were identified to collectively represent ¼ of the coastline of Turkey in length and more than 70-80% of all violations. The violations detected along Istanbul Strait and to its south, Izmir Bay, and Bandırma-Gemlik Bays are especially prominent within these fishing zones. 27% of all violations taking place in the province of Istanbul alone is also a matter that is worthy of attention. In terms of the number of violations, Istanbul is followed by Izmir, Çanakkale, Balıkesir and Bursa. The study also determined that vessels registered with Istanbul, Bandırma, Izmir, Samsun, and Mersin had committed a higher number of violations that those registered with other provinces. As a striking observation, 53% of all trawl violations and 28% of all purse seine violations had been violated by vessels without proper authorisation. Another point that should be considered relates to the fact that a share of 10% in trawl violations was committed by vessels without any relevance to fishing activities. Most of the detected violations were identified to pertain to purse seine violations (54%) in terms of the nature, type, and transportation of aquaculture. Half of documentary violations concern the authorisation of seamen, while violations relating to the registration of fishers constitute one-third of all violations and are mostly observed in vessels involved in purse seine fishing (54%). 82% of violations of spatial and temporal closure arose from contradictions with place closure rules and 18% from contradictions with time closure rules. 70% of violations of spatial and 95% of violations of temporal appear to be violations concerning trawl fishing. 78% of penalties in this context relate to contradictions with trawl fishing rules and 22% with purse seine fishing rules. With respect to the seizure of aquaculture, the highest share belongs to anchovy with 65% and it is striking that aquaculture seized by reason of trawl fishing violations represent 4% of the entire population by weight, whereas this ratio for purse seine fishing is 96%. The fisheries tools and equipment seized in this context include those employed in trawl fishing at 71% and those utilised for purse seine fishing at 29%.