Marine aquaculture in Turkey : advancements and management

Abstract

Providing food and livelihood to growing world population is among the most important policies of countries. The United Nations, which helps countries form national policies and provide advisory decisions, has determined 17 items. These items do not leave anyone behind, stipulate living in a sustainable life cycle, and include unifying developmental goals. The United Nations declared achieving “Zero Hunger” as the second goal. Here, the United Nations emphasized that it is essential for all people to access safe and indigenous food; and highlighted the importance of protecting food production for agricultural purposes and the ecosystem with small-scale producers while achieving this goal. Similarly, in the “Blue Growth” initiative, founded by the European Commission in 2012, business and food creation using oceans and seas were brought up. They stated that aquaculture came to the fore. As in the whole world, nutrition and subsistence economy come to the fore in Turkey. Aquaculture, which began in Turkey in the late 1970s in inland waters and marine in the mid-1980s, has become a giant sector. In its first years, the industry was in bad condition, it was nowhere near the concept of environmental consciousness, and it had adopted an approach solely based on making money. With the knowledge that polluting was adversely affecting the production as well as the ecosystem, the industry presently produces based on the principals of animal welfare, sustainable environment and food safety, and trades fresh, frozen, and processed products to almost all countries around the world. This book aims to show the long way aquaculture in Turkey has come since the former book which was published by TÜDAV in 2007, and provide an overview of what needs to be done next. In sections, issues such as aquaculture policies, production of existing and new species, their diseases, nutrition, environmental effects of aquaculture, certification, and occupational health were addressed. Though some of the issues mentioned here are new for the aquaculture sector in Turkey and some are new in the world, they are important issues. This book aimed to cover all topics of aquaculture. I want to express my appreciations to all the authors who devotedly wrote sections of the book during challenging pandemic and earthquake disasters; I would like to express my gratitude to my editors who worked with me in the editing process. I want to thank Dr. M. Arda Tonay, who conducted technical edits, and Ms. Zeynep Gülenç for her continuous support during the publication stage. Finally, I would like to express my respect and gratitude to Prof. Dr. Bayram Öztürk, the founder and president of TÜDAV who brought forth the idea of creating this book and offered me the head editorship of the book while working together in an aquaculture facility in Mersin. Prof. Dr. Deniz ÇOBAN