Turkey modernises its fisheries through producer organisations

As part of the  Fish Producers Training plan for Turkey, a series of activities have been held in the country’s coastal cities to raise the awareness of different groups of producers, such as cooperatives, producer organisations and associations.

This twinning project is funded by the European Union (EU) and managed by FIIAPP, with the involvement of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the Xunta de Galicia regional government. Its main aim is to develop the capabilities of the provincial directorates of the Turkish Ministry and their producer organisations so as to bring them into line with the EU Common Market Organisation guidelines.

To help to achieve this goal, several visits were made to the Mediterranean, Western Black Sea and Sea of Marmara regions, to hold four-day meetings with the producer groups in each region.

At these meetings, Spanish specialists shared information with Turkish producers, highlighting the Spanish experience and the importance of organisation. They also described the advantages offered by producer organisations within the EU. The need to promote the consumption of fish and the importance of developing marketing strategies were emphasised, as was the need to control fishery resources and provide a reliable data system that ensures proper traceability so as to help develop a modern market.

Such organisations are a response to the basic idea of a better defence of the interests of their members through united efforts and a better assessment of their production, as these allow their capacity for negotiation to increase, improve marketing, technical assistance and logistics for their members and ensure better management and the transfer of knowledge.

Producer organisations are therefore a way to foster the modernisation of fishing structures as they improve the management of resources by producer organisations, by respecting and promoting competition and with added values that that would be hard to achieve individually.

The EU Common Market Organisation was created with the aim of managing production and marketing with the dual purpose of ensuring a stable income for producers and a continuous supply of fish products for consumers.

In addition to improving the organisation of the market, when producer group come together, this also encourages the reasonable exploitation and sustainability of resources.

Producer Organisations (POs) are a specific EU structure, with 138 fishing POs currently operating in Spain and 4 inter-professional POs that bring together partners from different countries. There are rules governing their recognition, as they must have a minimum number of members and a certain volume of production or turnover. In general terms, recognised POs can benefit from certain exemptions, as well as having access to financing to improve their management.

As part of the project, other activities will be carried out in the near future aimed at developing the capabilities of the Provincial Directorates in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Black Sea.