According to Assistant Professor Kocabaş, ''Pollution, over-fishing and other more exotic varieties of trout introduced from trout farms, have led to this decrease in the population of trout in the Uzungöl EPA.

 

Professor Kocabaş, of Tunceli University, went on to say that there are five types of trout found in Turkey.

 

The Black Sea trout, despite living in the Black Sea, migrates inland via rivers in the autumn to lay its eggs, then returns to the sea. However, the young trout hatchlings from those eggs spend up to one year in the fresh water of the rivers, before also swimming out to sea.

 

Kocabaş went on to say that the other types of trout found in Turkey are the brook trout, the Anatolian trout, the Abant Lake trout and the Aras trout, which originates from the Caspian Sea and is found in eastern Anatolia. He went on to state that “The Anatolian trout, the Black Sea trout and the brook trout can all be found living in the Uzungöl EPA”.

 

He went on to explain that rainbow trout were introduced to Turkey from America in the 1950s, when trout farms were first set up in Abant and Yedigöller lakes, from where the practise of farming trout then spread across the whole of Turkey. In the fish farm rainbow trout reach a weight of 200 – 300 gram in 6 – 7 months, and in one year can weigh over a kilogram, whereas in the wild this fish would only weigh 350 – 400 grams after one year. Kocabaş went on to point out that the wild brook trout gets to a maximum length of 15-16cm and a weight of 70 – 80 gram in one year.

 

 

Kocabaş went on to cite the example of the French brook trout which is also bred in fish farms and said “We don’t know exactly how this fish initally came to Turkey, but presume its eggs were brought here specifically to be used in fish farming. Whilst rainbow trout cannot breed with wild trout, some of these French brook trout have escaped from fish farms and bred with wild trout, thus creating a new cross breed and leading to a form of genetic pollution.”