A sea side fish market without any locally caught fish for sale would be a pretty abysmal sight for those who have spent their working lives satisfying demand for these delicacies.

What is happening in Fethiye’s fishing community and what can be done to balance the demand for fish against environmental concerns?

It seems that everybody loves fish but nobody cares about the fishermen who make them available.

Local fishing communities have nothing to do with huge greedy trawlers and their drag nets.

This is about the picture postcard fishermen – you know, the ones we photograph mending their nets and lines.

For them and their families a sustainable supply of fish is imperative for their future financial security.
 
An increasing number of people relish a fish supper….indeed fish at any time.

Very often, at the same time as customers are tucking into their fishy feast, they bemoan the fact the Mediterranean is fished out.

The government meanwhile is making the fisherman’s burden of bureaucracy outweigh the benefits of their decreasing catch.

Furthermore, reports suggest that there a few dolphins, sea turtles and seals are “stealing” what little remains from the fishermen’s nets.

Sadly, on occasion these precious creatures are fatally punished.

Very rarely these days we hear about hideous injuries sustained by ignorant individuals who have lobbed a piece of dynamite in an attempt to increase their catch.

None of this is acceptable but regulation, education, assistance and deterrents can and must be implemented.

For as long as even the oldest folk in Fethiye can remember there have been fishermen and fish for dinner.

“This area is one of the deepest in Mediterranean. Once away from the land the sea soon reached depths of more than 3,000 metres. Therefore coastal fishing was the only option, unlike the shallower areas around Mersin or Izmir.” Explains one of Fethiye’s dwindling number of fisherman.

These are modest men, who do not wish to attract publicity for themselves.

He ventures a theory.

Before the earthquake of 1957, Fethiye had a small population; consequently the fisherman had no ready market for their catch but for the last 30 years fish has become an important staple of the population’s diet and as a result, the local economy. Tourism has further increased the demand.

It is a sad reality that maybe now less than 5% of those fish stocks remain.

Environmentalists put this down to over fishing and unsustainable practices but as our fisherman points out it’s a simple case of demand outstripping supply and this areas capacity to supply is no longer sufficient.

Maybe temporary “no catch” zones can help and this should be explored.

Fishermen are doing a difficult and sometimes dangerous job to provide people with what they want.

Unfortunately, the lack of fish together with the repeated death-blows of legislation from Ankara could mean that the fisherman’s days are numbered.

Are fishermen simply going to shrug their shoulders and walk away from their lifetimes work to find another career?

Hardly but if they do it is our loss.

The municipality in Fethiye gave permission to a private company to build a “Fishermen’s Wharf” which on appearance is a very elegant and stylish addition for our town.

There is now much gossip about its future. The fishermen don’t figure too much in the business plan if the word on the street is to be believed.

All too often these hard working men are marginalised or excluded from the committees that plan for their future.

Their lives are about catching fish, not dabbling in politics and as a result it seems that their views are unimportant in the eyes of authority.

Some fishermen started fish farms, for sea bass and bream, but now these are also under attack from the government who find these farms unacceptable in tourist areas, requiring them to be moved off shore.

Initially having offered support, the farmers have now been burdened with the impossible expense of moving the farms, giving up or facing bankruptcy.

This will open the doors for the larger, wealthy companies; once again at the expense of the local economy.

Nobody wants to see a mutilated sea turtle, seal or dolphin and there are sever legal implications for anyone caught killing these much loved marine characters but for the fishermen it is economically impossible for them to repeatedly replace damaged nets.

In countries where governments value their marine wild life and their fishermen, education and financial compensation is offered which breaks the cycle of environmental damage whilst supporting the fishermen.

Fethiye and central government must look to resolve these problems if it is to maintain its character as a fishing port and protect both the fishermen the market and the environment.

Jane Tuna