Following a decision to move fish farms away from the coast due to claims that they pollute the coastline, fish farm owners who tried to move their location have found themselves bewildered at the amount of bureaucratic problems they are faced with.

Gathering in Ýzmir, the fish farm owners asked for changes in the environment law to save the future of the sector. Writing a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, the owners asked for urgent solutions to their problems like easing the bureaucratic process for receiving credit, land to move to and storage areas that need to be established.

The owners said the campaigns carried out against them were based on unfounded claims and asked for new legal arrangements to prevent such campaigns that contained malicious accusations. In further efforts to solve problems currently facing them, the owners also decided to ask for an interview with the prime minister. Saying they have started a struggle all together to save the future of their sector, Aegean Exporters Union Fisheries Committee and Tuna Fish Stock Raiser Union President Nedim Ambar said: “We believe that our prime minister who gives total support to every sector will also help us.”

USD 830 million contribution:

The sector is said to contribute USD 830 million (TRY$ 1 billion) annually to the Turkish economy and provides employment to 25,000 people and brings in revenue to the tune of  USD 332 million (TRY$ 400 million)  through exports. The owners who met in Ýzmir Chamber of Commerce, decided to send a letter to Erdoðan in the name of 353 fish farms – of which the minority is farming tuna - operating in the country. The farms, for which the deadline to move was May 2007, need the ratification of 59 units in eight ministries to complete a move. Saying the bureaucratic process to move took about three years, the owners asked for urgent solutions.

The fish farm owners, establishing a commission of six, designated their new locations in open seas themselves with representatives from the Agriculture Ministry, Environment and Forestry Ministry and undersecretariat of Shipping present, yet they faced bureaucratic difficulties. “They say they will close our farms if we do not move but do everything to prevent us. They do not show us a place to move to. The bureaucratic process is too complicated. They see us as the main reason of the pollution,” said Ambar.

“We admit that some farms pollute the environment. Yet this rate is not more than 3 percent. It is also organic pollution that nature itself can dispose of. We have university reports proving this. Why does no one care about the 97 percent? Out of 3,125 municipalities in our country only 142 of them have healthy sewer and treatment systems,” said Ambar. He said the employment that was provided by the sector should not be underestimated.