Having dived in Konyaaltı offshore with his students from Department of Aquaculture, Prof. Dr Mehmet Gökoğlu stated that Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s decision of banning hunting leer fish resulted in increase of their population. “We run into young leers in great quantities. They circle around us.” says Gökoğlu.
He also stated that increasing temperatures lead to more fish activities. “Instead of species diversity decrease, we observe an increase in migrants from the Red Sea. There is a decrease in native species and an increase in invasive fish species. We have identified 68 species so far, if you count the Atlantic species too, we can say 70. Currently, the water temperature in Antalya Gulf is 32 degrees, and this increase causes the invasive species to go north. There are also species that migrated to Sea of Marmara. Currently, there is no threat to the Black Sea. The variation of species is low there, but the population is very high. The Mediterranean is the sea with the greatest diversity of species but the least in terms of population.” said Gökoğlu.
Fırat Demir – Ertuğrul Gün