Investigation of the Structural, Biological and Technical Aspects of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Hatcheries in Kahramanmaras Province, Turkey

In this study, the structural, biological and technical aspects of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hatcheries in Kahramanmaras Province, Turkey was investigated. According to the results; 4 of the existing enterprises were small (？2 million fry fish/year), 5 were medium (2-10 million fry fish/year) and 1 was large (>10 million fry fish/year) sized. The commercial structure of these companies was 60% person-family business and 40% company-partnership. The share of person-family enterprises within the total capacity was 21.43% (19,360,000 fry fish/year). The average share of company-partnership enterprises in the total capacity was determined as 78.57% (71,000,000 fry fish/year). When the enterprises were examined according to the capacity usage rates, it was seen that the lowest usage rate was in the large-sized enterprises (60%) and the highest rate was in the medium-sized enterprises (96.88%). In Kahramanmaras, it was determined that the average capacity usage rate was 73.98%. A total of 89 people has been working in this enterprises. While the vast majority (94.38%) of these personnel were males, the proportion of females was only 5.62%. Of the existing personnel, 6.74% are engineers, 76.40% are workers and 16.86% are family members.The age distribution of the personnel varies between 17-75 years old. The highest proportion of this personnel was composed of those between the ages of 20-29 with 44.94%. According to the capacities, the average labor force in small, medium and large-sized enterprises was as follows; 3.31, 5.90 and 21.75 man-years. In the province, the average workforce per company was 6.45 man-years. The 25% of small-sized enterprises produce out-of-season egg. This ratio was 80% and 100% for the medium and large-scale enterprises, respectively. Differences in the structural, biological and technical characteristics of existing enterprises directly affect their capacity usage rate and production efficiency