Turkish fishermen have been complaining about the spread of buffer fish in the Mediterranean for years. Now the country’s government has declared war on the venomous beast with a kind of bounty rate.
From the beginning of July, fishermen in the Turkish Mediterranean and Aegean beaches will be able to deliver rabbit-headed buffer fish to special locations and receive five Turkish lira (50 euro cents) in return, the newspaper “Cumhuriat” reported. For other creatures, 5 crores will be paid under 5 Euro cents.
The program will run until the end of 2023 and will apply to a maximum of 500,000 rabbit-headed buffer fish and five million other species. Previous operations were designed for short periods of time and were used only for rabbit-headed buffer fish.
Recent population has increased significantly in recent years, says Ekin Agoklu, a marine biologist at the Turkish Ode University in Ankara. With its excess presence, fish destroy the ecosystem in the sea and cause great damage to fishermen.
They often not only eat their catch, but also bite the nets. “The damage to a fisherman is equivalent to 450 euros a year,” says Agoglu. The average monthly income from small-scale fishing is about 340 euros.
The first expatriate from the warmer Red Sea sailed to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869. Agoglu says it was able to spread without much confusion because it had no prey in the Mediterranean. Global warming and rising temperatures in the Mediterranean mean fish are spreading well there.
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