With only a few days left until the end of the fishing season that began on September 1st, fishermen from the Black Sea are wrapping up a season filled with abundant catches. The season, which started with bonito, saw a variety of fish caught, diversifying dining tables. While agreeing that the season was not as plentiful as bonito in terms of anchovy catches, fishermen are continuing to catch plenty of whiting and horse mackerel.

Ünal Karadeniz, the President of the Perşembe Fishermen’s Cooperative, stated that they had left behind a successful season not only for the fishermen going out to sea but also for the sellers and customers. Highlighting the abundance of bonito catches, Karadeniz remarked, “We can say that we had perhaps the best bonito catches in the last 10 years. We managed to provide our people with a plentiful supply of bonitos this season.”

Despite the lack of abundance in anchovy catches, Karadeniz emphasized that the season had generally gone well. He noted that fishermen had taken care not to catch small anchovies this season. Pointing out that moving forward, especially small fishermen would focus on turbot fishing, Karadeniz commented, “Currently, turbot fishing is very good. It pleases us. Turbots, which were sold for 1300 lira per kilogram mid-season, have now fallen to 600-700 lira due to the plentiful catches.”

Özay Çakır, who sells fish in the Perşembe district, stated that they were able to make the desired sales due to the abundant variety of fish. He mentioned that for the first time in 7-8 years, there was such liveliness in the fish markets, underlining that the fishermen had successfully closed the season in a satisfactory manner. Furkan Arslantürk also expressed that they had left behind a season where everyone was satisfied with the abundance of all fish varieties.

Erdal Çamaş conveyed that the season had exceeded expectations, mentioning that they even sent fish to expatriates living outside the city.