Hope for a Fruitful Season

Although they got what they wanted from bonito and mackerel, anglers are already looking forward to anchovies and eagerly waiting for the weather to cool.

Fishermen, who are waiting for the day when anchovies, which create important potential for the region and the country’s economy and are in the first place the choices of consumers, fill the nets, will hope to have a fruitful season.

Expectations for Anchovies

The President of the Eastern Black Sea Fisheries Cooperative Regional Union, Ahmet Mutlu, told the AA reporter that bonito hunting still continues intensively in the Eastern Black Sea.

Noting that horse mackerel, as well as bonito, also fill the nets, Mutlu continued his words as follows:

“Of course, as usual, what is expected is the Black Sea anchovies. The heat is quite high. The water temperature is 25-26 degrees, the water needs to cool down a bit. At the moment, yes, anchovies come. It’s very nice, but anchovies come with a cold chain, but they come from Marmara, Istanbul. It’s anchovies that citizens can actually eat, but what fishermen and citizens want, of course, is Black Sea anchovies as always.”

Mutlu expressed their concern about the delay in anchovies and said, “As long as the air temperature does not drop, it seems that we cannot expect a high density of anchovies at the moment. Wherever you look at it, the temperature over 25 degrees.”

Noting that they expect anchovies to show themselves in October, Mutlu said, “Actually, our ideal and our thinking about anchovies is the month of October. Usually, we have a storm ahead of us, we call it black chestnut. It could be around September 28-29. So maybe if this storm happens, if the weather is a little harder. We say that maybe after this weather, we have hope for anchovies after the beginning of October.”

Fishermen Share Their Thoughts

Mehmet Özen, who has been fishing for about 14 years, said that the most bonito is currently caught in the Eastern Black Sea.

Pointing to the fact that anchovies are in high demand by consumers in the Black Sea, Özen said, “The weather is hot. The sea water has warmed, that is, since it is not cooling, anchovies are going to the wells because he was looking for cold water.”

Mehmet Üstün, who has been fishing for about 44 years, also said that there is still an abundance of bonito.

Stating that they expect to hunt anchovies as the weather cools, Üstün said, “There are a lot of baby anchovies, but we don’t know what will happen until the season, whether they will stay or not.”

Fisherman Gökmen Aydın also pointed out that the abundance of bonito continues and said, “I hope there will be plenty of bonito from now on and citizens will eat it. After the bonito is over, there will be an abundance of anchovies are starting to increase. I hope anchovies will come out and the citizens will eat them.”