Mullet

The three-month hunting ban, which was initiated during the breeding period of the pearl mullet, an endemic fish species residing in Lake Van, has ended.

Within the scope of the annual hunting ban for pearl mullet which started on April 15, intensive measures were taken to prevent poaching.

A total of 170 people have received administrative fines totaling 1.2 million Turkish Liras for disobeying the restrictions on hunting pearl mullet, an indigenous fish species thriving in Lake Van's waters.

As the hunting ban for pearl mullet from Apr. 15 to Jul. 15 is still in effect, protection activities for the species also continue at full speed.

A man diving into the Dardanelles has caught a 1.7-meter (5.5-feet) long leerfish weighing 50 kilograms (110 lb) with a harpoon.

Çetin Ege Doğan, who is engaged in freediving as a hobby, set out to sea to catch fish that can rarely be caught in the Dardanelles.

Diving to a depth of 20 meters, Doğan caught leerfish weighing 50 kilograms and 1.7 meters long.

Locals and tourists have thronged around "Deli Çay," roughly translated as the "Crazy Stream," in the eastern province of Van's Erciş district to see pearl mullets' migration.

Pearl mullets can live in the salty waters of Turkey's largest Lake Van, leave their habitats at the beginning of April and migrate to streams to reproduce.

The first fish caught in the Marmara Sea with the start of the new fishing season on Sept. 1 are horse mackerels and striped red mullets.

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Fishermen have set off to Lake Van, Turkey's largest lake, to catch pearl mullet as the fishing ban ends on July 15.

Completing all their preparations, fishermen living in settlements on the shores of the lake have set out in the early hours of the morning on July 15, calling out "Vira Bismillah," meaning "raising the anchor in the name of God" in Turkish.

The challenging migration of pearl mullets, an endemic fish species found only in Turkey's eastern Lake Van, has started as their spawning period began.

The pearl mullet, the only fish species in Lake Van, migrates to freshwaters by swimming inversely to the flow in their spawning period between April 15 and July 15.

Dzelal Hodzic fondly remembers the biggest catch of his life.

"You could feel it by the noise," said the veteran Montenegrin fisherman. "It was night, and they just said 'lift!' It took us from morning until the following night to get it out. We didn't know what to do with that much fish."

The migration of pearl mullets, a fish species living in the Lake Van region, has started. The fish migrate through the lake's tributaries in May and June for the spawning season every year, but they always have to contend with predatory seagulls that try to hunt them.