OSMANLI’DA BOĞAZİÇİ’NDE BALIKÇILIK ( 18. Yüzyıl- 20.yüzyıl)

Fishing in Ottoman Empire is usually done by using weirs or nets. Almost all of the fishers in Istanbul and the Bosphorus were Ottoman Greek citizens. This situation hardly had changed to the early years of the Republic. Fishing tradesmen wereorganized as two parties. Those go fishing and bring fishes to the fishstore called “sayyad” and those sell fish at shops called fisher tradesmen. Fishes caught in Bosphorus and around were first brought to the Balıkhane/Fishstore of Istanbul. After taxing fishes, they were distributed to fisher tradesmen in various districts of Istanbul. An unwritten code had developed between people who earn their lives with fishing and owners of weirs and casts. Accordingly, people who live off fishing retain the right to hunt from the weirs and casts owners in exchange for a fee or a share. From the very beginning of twentieth century, establishment and exploitation of weirs had been tried to restricted on tight clauses by some laws becuase of the increasing maritime traffic.