ISTANBUL, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- As the clock struck midnight on Sept. 1, ending Türkiye's four-and-a-half-month seasonal fishing ban, Ahmet Kurt, a veteran captain at Istanbul's Kirecburnu docks, gazed across the Black Sea with renewed optimism.
"This will be the best fishing season of the last 20 years," Kurt said confidently as he prepared his crew for the first catch of the new season.
He attributed the expected boom to favorable weather conditions during the spawning season. Early signs in the water suggest a strong run of bonito and anchovies this year, raising hopes of a catch unlike any seen in decades.
Fishing in Türkiye is about far more than putting more seafood on the table. Bordered by seas on three sides, the country depends heavily on its fishing industry, which employs around 250,000 people, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
At the same time, with food prices up 37.5 percent year on year in July, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, a plentiful catch could provide consumers with a relatively affordable source of protein.
"People should prepare to fill their deep freezers," Kurt said, predicting that bonito prices, now at 200 Turkish liras (about 4.13 U.S. dollars), would halve within a week.
Yet beneath the surface of this apparent windfall lies a more precarious reality. For every consumer welcoming lower prices, a fisherman is grappling with soaring costs.
On a neighboring vessel, veteran fisherman Ozgur Inci leads a 30-member crew paid under a share system, with their earnings tied directly to the size of each catch.
As his crew geared up for what they hoped would be a bumper season, one shadow loomed over Inci: soaring diesel prices. At around 80 liras per liter, fuel costs are now roughly twice as high as they were in previous seasons.
"My boat burns about a ton of diesel in a single night," Inci said, adding that daily operating costs can reach 100,000 liras, with fuel driving expenses at every stage, from casting the nets to getting the catch to market.
The challenge of balancing affordable prices for consumers with the economic sustainability of the fishing industry emerged as a central theme at the season's official opening.
Recep Duzgit, vice chairman of the Chamber of Shipping, warned that protecting fishermen's margins is not a sectoral concern but a national one.
"Behind this labor lies a massive economy," Duzgit cautioned. "When a fisherman goes to sea, multiple sectors are activated, from port workers to transporters, from wholesalers to restaurants."
To help stabilize fishermen's incomes, Duzgit called for a nationwide campaign to increase domestic seafood consumption, arguing that it would both support the fishing industry and encourage healthier eating.
Speaking at a parallel season-opening ceremony in the Aegean province of Izmir, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli announced concrete state support: investment financing limits for the fisheries sector have been raised from 15 million to 40 million liras, part of a broader effort that has injected billions into the industry over the past 24 years.
Yumakli stressed that the government's goal is to strike a balance between keeping seafood affordable for consumers and protecting fishermen's livelihoods.
Yet for Inci and his crew, as they steam into the dark waters, those measures offer little immediate relief from the high costs they face.
"We want to provide the public with affordable fish, but we also have to survive without operating at a loss," he said. "We are trying to find that balance." ■