From capture to culture: five decades of Turkish fisheries, aquaculture and bluefin tuna catch recovery under ICCAT management
Avcılıktan yetiştiriciliğe: Türkiye balıkçılığı ve su ürünleri yetiştiriciliğinin elli yılı ve ICCAT yönetimi altında mavi yüzgeçli orkinos avlarının toparlanması
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Abstract
Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea combine a long history of overexploitation with rapid growth of aquaculture. Using FAO, World Bank and ICCAT data retrieved live from the open GOMD platform by a notebook that stops when a series is missing, we analysed Türkiye's capture and aquaculture production (1970–2024), Türkiye's catch by species and total capture in FAO area 37 for Türkiye, Italy, Greece, Spain and Egypt (1950–2024), marine aquaculture in four countries, and ICCAT catches of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Aquaculture's share of Türkiye's production rose from 0.2% in 1970 to 61.8% in 2024 (577 of 933 thousand tonnes); a Pettitt change point in 1996 separates a period with a mean share of 1.1% from one with 31.3%. Türkiye's anchovy catch peaked at 388 thousand tonnes in 1995 and was 153 thousand tonnes in 2024, with a coefficient of variation of 0.37 after 2005. Total capture in FAO area 37 declined after 2000 in all five countries, by 8.6 thousand tonnes per year in Türkiye, 7.5 in Italy, 3.0 in Spain, 1.2 in Greece and 0.6 in Egypt. Within countries, one thousand tonnes more marine aquaculture was associated with 0.43 thousand tonnes less capture (t = −6.2, within R² = 0.22, N = 140), a correlation that may reflect shared trends. Mean annual bluefin tuna catches fell by 42–67% between 1997–2006 and 2008–2017, after the ICCAT recovery plan, and returned to 77–125% of earlier levels after 2018. The results agree with regional assessments of declining fishing pressure and expanding aquaculture and show how open notebooks can track fisheries indicators against management milestones.
Keywords
Fisheries; Aquaculture; Black Sea; Mediterranean; FAO area 37; European anchovy; Atlantic bluefin tuna; ICCAT; Türkiye
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