Bluefish

Following the end of the seasonal fishing ban - imposed every year between April 15 - Sept. 1 - the new fishing season has kicked off in Türkiye, with fishermen foreseeing plenty of bonito, horse mackerel, bluefish and sardine catches, in September particularly.

With just a few days remaining until the fishing ban is lifted, fishermen eagerly anticipate casting their nets into seas, hoping for a bountiful season with abundant catches of bonito and bluefish.

The number of fish caught in the country has significantly dwindled compared to 2000, with a 50 percent decrease observed over the past 24 years, an expert has warned.

Despite the abundance of anchovies, which have been caught in limited amounts in the Black Sea last year, experts are concerned about next year because of "excessive fishing."

With the start of the fishing season in the Eastern Black Sea on Sept. 1, fishermen continue to cast their nets into the sea.

With the fishing season entering its second month, the Istanbul Strait is currently experiencing an abundance of a highly consumed fish, the bluefish, widely referred as the "prince of Bosphorus," for the past 10 days.

Following the end of a five-month ban, the fishing season has kicked off in Türkiye, with experts foreseeing plenty of bonito in the Black Sea.

Turkey's fishing season closed on April 15 with a countrywide ban effective until Sept. 1, but some fishermen around the Black Sea ended their activities even earlier this year due to the threat from floating naval mines.

The population of bluefish has been declining at an alarming rate in Turkey's Marmara Sea mainly due to pollution and overfishing, experts have said.

There is an alarming decrease in the stock of bluefish in the inland seas due to overfishing and pollution, said Saadet Karakulak, an academic from Istanbul University's Faculty of Aquatic Sciences.

Until the 1980s, dolphins were mercilessly fished in the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea. The state distributed arms, ammunition and loans to dolphin fishermen for them to fish more. For years, in Black Sea houses, rags immersed in dolphin oil were used in lamps.

A festivity was held over the weekend in Istanbul, in one of the city’s older settlements, Kuzguncuk, at the shore of the Bosphorus, the “Bluefish [lüfer] Holiday.”