Maritime Jurisdiction Areas and Fisheries Activities of Riparian Countries in the Black Sea

In this study, the fishing areas and efforts of Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria have been compared and, fluctuations in the fish catch amounts of riparian countries were investigated since 1950. Fishing fleets and catch values were taken from "www.seaaroundus.org" and FAO fishing statistics. In addition, the official statistics of the countries and the results of the scientific researches were also used. By using the data, the roles of the riparian countries in the Black Sea fisheries was evaluated. While total catch obtained by the riparian countries from the Black Sea was between 400-500 thousand tons year-1 in the 1950s and it was 1.3 million tons year-1 in the 1980s. However, at the end of the 1980s it showed a rapid decline and fell to below 500 thousand tons in the early 1990s. Annual catch from the beginning of the 1990s to the recent years varied between 500 and 900 thousand tons. Until the late 1970s, the Soviet Union's share in this total catch was the highest and followed by Turkey and Ukraine. While the catch obtained by Turkish fishermen increased sharply in the early 1980s, it decreased sharply for Russian fishermen