The fisherman s problem in Marmara sea

Abstract

Even though Turkey has 26 million hectares of arable land and24 million hectares of sea, fishing comprises a very smallshare in the Turkish economy. Nevertheless, due to pollutionand overfishing, the future of the fishing industry isperilous. Being a common property resource, fisheries posespecific management problems. .In countries where governments and fishermen collaborate, theresouces are managed sustainably. However, an importantfactor, a prerequisite, is environmental awareness. In thiscontext, this study aims to give insight to the environmentalawareness level of the Marmara Sea fishermen.The ecological costs are inevitably transferred to economicalcosts for fishermen. Does this economically constrainingsituation lead fishermen to be more conscious about theirimmediate environment? Are they able to demand or imposepolicies like an interest group? Is it possible to think ofan autocontrol mechanism among the fishermen? How is theirrelationship with relevant governmental agencies? In thisstudy, the counterpart of the problem--the governmentalagencies and their policies--are also analyzed.The first chapter gives an insight about the conceptualframework, the second chapter gives examples of sustainablymanaged fisheries. The third chapter delineates the presentsituation of Turkish fishing industry, the fourth chapteranalyzes the results of the survey concerning theenvironmental awareness. In the conclusion, the results ofthe survey are evaluated and are integrated to the wholeconceptual framework of study.