The waters off Istanbul used to be teeming with large tuna, mackerel and other prized fish (that's what the city's old-timers say, at least). But those fish have not been seen in the city's vicinity in decades. And while there's lots of fishing activity going on in the Bosphorus, the strait that divides Istanbul's Asian and European sides, there is concern that the city's waters are being overfished. As a recent Wall Street Journal article points out, this year's run of lufer -- a bluefish that's very popular in Istanbul fish restaurants -- has yet to materialize.
Could overfishing be to blame? That's what many experts believe, although the article also quotes Mustafa Kokos, an Istanbul commercial fisherman and a fisheries advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who seems to think differently:
"There's enough fish in Turkey to feed the world," says Mr. Kokos, who is also fisheries adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He says he recently put a proposal to Mr. Erdogan to develop Turkey's annual fish exports to €5 billion in five years from €180 million today, in part by keeping the processing in Turkey. "We should put three hamsi (Black Sea anchovies) in a can, squirt some sauce on it and sell it to the Americans."
The full article is here.
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