Economic analysis and sustainability of Turkish marine hatcheries

Abstract

The economic analysis was performed and sustainability was evaluated for 7 leader Turkish marine hatcheries which have 61.5% of Turkish total marine fish fry production. For this purpose, the fixed cost including investment and operational costs including feed, labor, energy, fuel, water, oxygen, and medicament costs were determined by face to face interview for each hatchery. Also, production methods, species cultured and marketing techniques of each hatchery were investigated and conflicts, opportunities, projections, structuring and sustainability of the sector were evaluated by questionnaire designed in the scope of SUSTAINAQ, a FP6 Project supported by EU. As a result, it was seen that the ratio of total cost to total income changed between 22% and 97.8%. Although the RAS requires high operation and initial investment costs and highly qualified technicians, it is seen that it will be very important for sustainability of Turkish marine hatcheries because of land, quality and quantity of water and environmental approaches. © Published by Central Fisheries Research Institute (CFRI) Trabzon.