ST. PETERSBURG, Russia
Turkey's aquaculture sector has a significant share in the world production, the country's agriculture and forestry minister said on Wednesday.
Speaking at 3rd Global Fishery Forum and Seafood Expo in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bekir Pakdemirli said since 2002, the number of facilities for the aquaculture has increased by 83% and reached 2,686.
Thus, aquaculture production increased by 416% to 315,000 tons, Pakdemirli added. 
Last year, a total of 629,000 tons of water products were produced, he noted.
Out of all, 314,000 tons were from fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish, while 314,500 were from aquaculture which is the cultivation of aquatic plants for food, he added.
The production from aquaculture has passed the production of the fishing for the first time.
Touching on exports of water products, he said it increased from 27,000 tons in 2002 to 178,000 tons in 2018 and from $97 million to $952 million.
Turkey's target for the aquaculture output in 2023 is 600,000 tons and export target is $2 billion.
*Writing by Faruk Zorlu
