COMPARISON OF AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION OF TURKEY AND EUROPEAN UNION
Turkey aquaculture sector
Turkey is endowed with rich inland waters and river systems with significant capture fishery and aquaculture potential. Production of the three major species, namely rainbow trout, seabass and seabream increased rapidly during the 1990s with production now reaching 158 729 tonnes in 2009, 167 141 tonnes in 2010 and 188 790 tonnes in 2011. In the last few years the contribution of freshwater and marine fish species to overall aquaculture production has reached similar levels, with 100 446 tonnes (53%) for freshwater and 88 344 tonnes (47%) for marine production in 2011 (TUIK, 2013). Rainbow trout, seabream and seabass account for 95 percent of the country's aquaculture production. The rainbow trout has been cultured since the early 1970s and Turkey has become one of the top trout producing countries in Europe with an annual production of 100 239 tonnes at 1 587 fish farms, 53 percent of the country's total aquaculture production in 2011 (TUIK, 2013). Farming of gilthead seabream and European seabass has been quite a success and production has increased to 79 200 tonnes in 2011 (Table 1) (TUIK, 2013).
The EU aquaculture sector
The EU aquaculture production in volume peaked in the late 1990s, with 1.43 million tonnes. Subsequently, EU production has been relatively stable or decreased slightly reaching 1.25 million tonnes in 2011 (FAO, 2013). In 2011, marine fish accounted for 31% of the EU aquaculture production in weight, freshwater fish accounted for 20% and shellfish for 49%. EU aquaculture production in 2011 is mainly concentrated in 5 countries: France, Greece, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom. These five countries are responsible for 76% of all the EU aquaculture value in 2011 (STECF, 2013). 51% of the total EU aquaculture production volume was fish and 49% shellfish. In 2011, the main aquaculture species produced in weight terms in the EU were mussels, rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, Pacific cupped oysters, gilthead seabream, European seabass and common carp (Table 1). These species constituted about 90% of the total EU aquaculture production in weight (STECF, 2013).