Angel shark on the cover of the journal Fishes.
Three potential Critical Angel Shark Areas or CASAs have been identified in the Eastern Mediterranean, specifically in Türkiye’s Fethiye Bay and Antalya Bay, which are part of the Turkish Riviera, and the Çanakkale or Dardanelles Strait, in the northwestern part of the country.
Bluefin tuna. Image from Pxhere, CC0.
Bluefin tuna, swordfish and Atlantic mackerel are among the fish species considered commercially extinct or extirpated on the Turkish side of the Marmara and Black Seas.
A new study by researchers with the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia, Mersea Marine Conservation Consulting, Turkey’s Central Fisheries Research Institute and the Institute of Marine Sciences and Management at the University of Istanbul, found that 17 fish species have been extirpated and 17 are commercially extinct in Turkey’s Black Sea, while 19 have been extirpated and 22 went commercially extinct in the Sea of Marmara.