Hasan Girenes is President of Agriculture and Fisheries in the Yasar Group, a Turkish industrial conglomerate. He is also Chairman of the Izmir Fish Producers Association. Fish farming is an important industry in Turkey, where 230,000 tonnes of fish were cultivated in 2014 of which 83,000 tonnes were exported. Although aquaculture plays an inceasingly important role in supplying the world with healthful protein, the industry suffers from a negative image. In this comment Mr Girenes discusses how this can be changed.
Countries
-
-
Along the eastern edge of Albania, where it borders Macedonia and Greece, are three lakes; Lake Ohrid, and the greater and lesser Prespa Lakes. Lake Ohrid, the largest of the three, is shared by Albania and Macedonia, with about a third of the approximately 350 sq. km surface area on the Albanian side of the border.
-
Agromey is among the largest producers of seabass and seabream in Turkey with an annual production capacity of 15,000 tonnes. The company, like other big producers, is integrated with its own feed production division, fish cultivation, processing, packaging and distribution.
-
The fish processing company Koral is among the biggest players on the Albanian market. Relying both on domestic as well as imported raw material Koral processes and packages fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods for the domestic market as well as for exports.
-
In a sector crowded with farming and processing companies Akuvatur stands out for its approach, which differs in several respects from other producers. Owned by an academic, Dr Haluk Tuncer, Akuvatur has concentrated on species other than seabass and seabream. In addition, the company grows fish to sizes that are usually larger than the typical market-sized fish.
-
Kiliç Seafood is Turkey’s biggest producer of farmed fish, cultivating seabream, seabass, meagre, and trout with a total annual production capacity of approximately 40,000 tonnes. The company is fully integrated with hatcheries, feed production, processing, sales, marketing and distribution. Its products are exported to 44 countries around the world making it Turkey’s leading exporter in this sector.
-
Kopuzmar was established in 1991, but operations actually started five years earlier when the company put 600 gilthead seabream juveniles in cages in the sea. Since then the company has grown significantly, producing juveniles and fish feed, farming seabream and seabass, and processing fish in to value added products.
-
The Lithuanian fisheries sector has a long historical traditions and is a part of the national heritage in the Baltic Sea coast area. The segment comprises a high seas fleet, a Baltic Sea fleet, and a coastal fleet. There is also a small freshwater fishery in the Curonian lagoon. The aquaculture industry in Lithuania is dynamic and the production of farmed fish has been increasing in terms of both value and volume.
-
Fisheries plays an important role in the economies of coastal regions throughout Europe. It is therefore vital to exploit the oceans’ aquatic resources sustainably to avoid the depletion of fish stocks, a rusting fishing fleet, unemployed fishermen and seafood shortages.
-
The fish processing sector in Lithuania is based mainly on imported raw materials which are converted into a variety of products both for domestic consumption and for export. Some companies are also using locally-caught and locally-farmed fish to add variety to the range of products they manufacture.
