The government imposed a ban on fishing for sea urchins in the Marmara Sea this week due to concerns about the species becoming endangered amid overfishing.
The General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Monday announced the ban on hunting the urchins, which are among the few organisms that help keep invasive algae in check, serving as the "cleaner" of seas. The ban will officially start next Monday.
Hunting sea urchins has been subject to bans in the past but regulations were lifted once again earlier this year, raising concerns about the fate of the species that serves as a significant part of the ecosystem in the landlocked Marmara Sea, the site of last year's sea snot or marine mucilage catastrophe. The phenomenon is associated with a boom in algae triggered by an overload of nutrients due to changing climate conditions and more significantly, heavy pollution.
The ban is part of the Marmara Sea Action Plan, drafted to combat last year’s mucilage threat and its possible recurrence in the future. The plan primarily targets curbing potential sources that may pollute the Marmara. It also includes efforts to preserve its ecosystem and expand the areas of preservation in the vast sea to which Turkey’s most populated city Istanbul and industrial hubs are littoral.
Experts earlier called on the government to impose a ban on sea urchin hunting, arguing that Turkey is a party to Bern Convention that protects marine life. Professor Herdem Aslan, a marine biology expert from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, says sea urchins are vital to the marine ecosystem but hunting threatens the species, noting that in the Saroz Gulf alone in the Marmara’s southwest, some 50 tons of sea urchins are hunted daily at times.
Sea urchins are mainly exported to Asian countries. Particularly in Japan, their gonads are used in local cuisine. Japan consumes sea urchins as a culinary delicacy more than any other country, importing them from the United States, South Korea and other major producers.
Experts say sea urchin stocks are also decreasing in the Mediterranean Sea, to which Turkey is also littoral.
