Turkey dominant in fishing sector in Black Sea, Mediterranean, says report

Turkey is one of six countries leading the fishing sector in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean out of the 24 member countries of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), according to a two-year report released on Dec. 14.

The report named the "State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries" (SoMFI 2020) underlined that Turkey, along with Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Egypt and Algeria dominates the sector.

"The fishing fleet in operation in the GFCM area of application [the Mediterranean and the Black Sea] in 2019 consists of 87,600 fishing vessels and a total fishing capacity of around 903,000 gross tonnage," said the report.

"Four countries, Turkey, Tunisia, Greece and Italy, account for around 60 percent of the total fishing fleet," it added.

The combined landings for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in 2018 amount to 1.1 tonnes, excluding tuna-like species. "Turkey is the main producer with 274,000 tonnes, 23.3 percent of the total, followed by Italy with 178,700 tonnes and 15.2 percent, and Algeria with 103,000 tonnes and 8.8 percent," the report stated.

The report also noted that Turkish fishermen changed their route to the Mediterranean to catch fish.

"In the Mediterranean, the largest increase in catch since 2016 was shown by Turkey with a 20.4 percent jump, while the greatest decrease was shown by Morocco," said the report.

In the Black Sea during the same period, Georgia and Romania showed the most evident increase, whereas "Turkey's contribution to Black Sea landings decreased by around 13 percent."

Turkey is also a dominant country in the socio-economical side of the fishing sector.

"Total revenue from marine capture fisheries in the...

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