Minister of Agriculture Oğuz: We are not at the desired point in fish production and consumption.

Dursun Oğuz, Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, visited the Kumyalı fisherman’s shelter and the Sea World farm, which produces sea bass and sea bream, and made investigations.

Noting that Sea World fish farm, which is currently the only active fish farm in the country, provides about 90 percent of the country’s sea bream and sea bass needs, Oğuz said that the annual capacity of the facility is approximately 500 tons.

Seeing the feeding of fish in the farm off the coast of Kumyalı, where sea bass and sea bream production is made, Minister Oğuz, who also received information about the operation of the farm, said that although it is an island country, it is not in a very good situation in terms of fish production and consumption.

Minister Oğuz also noted that as a ministry, they are doing some work in order to make better use of the seas.

Expressing that such facilities add added value to the country in terms of employment and production, Dursun Oğuz said that they work very meticulously on whether the said fishermen’s facilities pollute the seas or not, that they are constantly checked by the Ministry of Animal Husbandry Department, and that they are sensitive to protect nature and seas.

Yıldırım Kosifoğlu, responsible for Sea Word, also stated that they have been working on increasing the capacity of the facility where they have been producing sea bream and sea bass since 2016.

Kosifoğlu said that fish consumption is important for human health, that the bait of the fish produced in the facility is produced from fish and that consumers can consume the fish in the fish farm with peace of mind.

Minister Oğuz and his entourage continued their investigations by visiting the facility where the harvested sea bream and sea bass were packaged.

Minister Oğuz, who made a statement to BRT after the examinations, stated that the facility both meets the country’s fish needs and offers job opportunities to the people of the region, and stated that the village women find employment opportunities in their own place.

Minister Oğuz also stated that such enterprises are not rivals of local fishermen and added that they support such enterprises by showing sensitivity.