BLACK SEA SALMON (Salmo labrax PALLAS, 1814) JOURNEY: FROM POND TO PLATE

Abstract

Black Sea salmon is an endemic species from the Salmonidae family and distributed in the Black Sea region. These fish, which show anadromous behavior, prefer the parts of the rivers close to the source for reproduction and the Black Sea for feeding. The first cultural study of this species, which has high consumer preference and economic value, was initiated by SUMAE in 1998. After 24 years of work, the F7 generation broodstock was created. Private sector was supported with broodstock in order to expand the farming of the species. In this study, the farming process of the Black Sea salmon was examined and the introduction of the species was aimed. Today, 25 private sector enterprises have production licenses and many enterprises carry out commercial production of a total of 1603 tons in the pilot scale. Commercial production is concentrated in the Eastern Black Sea Region, which is the natural distribution area of the species. Enterprises that produce portion sizes in ponds on land and have restaurants prefer the red-spotted stream ecotype for production, while enterprises that produce large fish in dams and seas prefer the marine ecotype, which reaches late sexual maturity and shows better growth performance than other ecotypes. Since the Black Sea salmon is the only endemic trout species showing typical salmon character in Türkiye, its adaptation to natural environmental conditions is quite good for marine net cage farming and freshwater aquaculture.