The place and importance of fishery cooperatives in aquaculture marketing in Turkey: The case of Antalya

Fishery Cooperatives; are organizations that provides and serves about production, processing, storage and marketing issues of all kinds of aquatic products’ partners and established to provide their needs of common fishing gears, supplies and equipment. Therefore, cooperative system is seen one of the most appropriate tool for eliminating the problems that aquatic products sector currently within, besides, to sustain aquatic products stocks and the fishermen communities (mostly fisheries are cooperative partners). In our country, there are still 574 fisheries cooperatives in 600 producer organization in aquatic products sector, while the number of shareholders are 30893, such cooperatives are not effective enough. Fishery cooperatives have got quite an important potential in order to watch over the benefits of the fishermen and to organize the fishing sector. All the authorities accept that a control system including an efficient self-control mechanism might even be established providing the active participation of the fishermen by means of the fishery cooperatives. In this study fishery cooperatives functions, members problems, expectations are examined comparatively within the example of Antalya province’ cooperatives, despite all the problems experienced in the province of Antalya, the reason for reduction of activity will be discussed, still gradually increasing number of fisheries cooperatives.