Demersal Fisheries Resources in the ?zmir Bay in Turkey.

Aydin Unluoglu,⁽¹⁾Bulent Cihangir⁽²⁾Eyup Mumtaz Tirasin⁽³⁾Huseyin Avni Benli⁽⁴⁾
Dokuz Eylul University, Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology Izmir-Turkiye
E-mail: unluoglu@imst.deu.edu.tr

Abstract

Due to the rapid increase in population density and industrialization, the ?zmir bay has become increasingly polluted, especially during the last three decades. The pollution intensity decreases gradually towards the opening section of the bay allowing its other parts to retain a level of biological richness, which is almost as high as in previous periods. ?zmir Bay still remains important for the regional fisheries. During the last two decades, a rapid progression in the fishing power and intensity have begun to be felt as another stress factor on the Izmir Bay fish stocks. The co-occurence of pollution and excessive fishing stress has caused some drastic changes in the diversity and distribution of the fish stocks.
The ?zmir Bay, as a fishery ecosystem, plays all three major roles, i.e. as feeding ground, nursery ground and spawning ground. In the Outer Bay III, around the Gediz River delta, some other fish species, e.g. annular sea bream, sole, gray mullets, and prawns are more densely populated than in the other parts. In the Outer Bay II (Güzelbahçe region) exists a suitable nursery ground for fishes. The fisheries resources of the bay, besides being economically important, are also significant as a food source for the citizens of ?zmir. To be able to achieve a sustainable use of these renewable living resources, an effective management plan ought to be developed on the basis of reliable stock assessment studies. In this study on the ?zmir Bay, the seasonal occurrence of the fisheries resources and their ratio in the total catch were determined between the years 1997-2002.

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