Aquaculture emerges as a crucial solution for addressing the global food shortage of an estimated 10 billion people by 2050. In Türkiye, aquaculture plays a significant role in supporting the economy and ensuring food security. Over the past two decades, finfish production in Türkiye surged from 61,163 to 547,505 t, generating $1.7 billion in export revenue across over 100 countries. This growth has been driven by technological advancements, robust governmental support, and increasing global demand for aquaculture products. However, the sector also faces persistent challenges, including the need to enhance sustainability, mitigate ecological impacts, and manage finite resources. As Europe's leading fish producer, the Turkish aquaculture sector must continue to innovate and expand to meet the demands of a growing population. Despite the expanding research on Turkish finfish aquaculture, there is no comprehensive review that consolidates both scientific progress and sectoral developments. This study fills that void by combining a bibliometric analysis of 1958 scientific publications from 1983 to 2023 with an in‐depth sectoral evaluation, providing a holistic understanding of the Turkish aquaculture sector. The bibliometric analysis highlights key research areas, trends, and knowledge gaps, while the sectoral overview examines production trends, dynamics of the feed industry, technological innovations, and economic factors. It also addresses challenges such as climate change impacts, reliance on imported feed ingredients, and disease issues, discussing potential avenues for sustainable growth through innovation, policy reforms, and technological integration. This review serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders, offering insights into the current state and future directions of finfish aquaculture in Türkiye.

İklim, yeryüzünün biyolojik varlığının yaşamsal bir değeridir. Biyolojik yaşamı doğrudan ve dolaylı olarak etkileyen antropojenik etkilerin iklim üzerinde yarattığı değişimler dünya için bir tehdit oluşturmaktadır. Dünya nüfusundaki artış ve gelişen sanayiden kaynaklı antropejenik kökenli etkiler iklim değişikliği sürecini hızlandırmaktadır. Paris İklim Konferansı’nda kabul edilen 1,5 °C küresel sıcaklık artış kriteri ve sera gazı emisyonlarından/salınımlarından kaynaklı CO2 miktarındaki artış antropejenik iklim değişikliğinin izlenmesinde önemli iki kriterdir. Antropojenik çevresel atıklarla birlikte atmosferde yaşanan antropojenik iklim değişikliğinin etkileri sucul havzalara ulaşarak ekosistemler üzerinde değişimlere neden olmaktadır. İzlenmesi gereken en önemli kriterlerden sıcaklık artışı sucul canlıların besinlerini, göç ve habitatlarını etkilemektedir. Diğer önemli kriter CO2 artışı da sucul ekosistemlerin pH’sını asitliğe dönüştürerek canlıların yaşam alanlarını etkilemektedir. Her ikisi de su stresini tetikleyerek balıkçılık ve yetiştiricilik koşullarında etkiler yaratmaktadır. Bu süreçlerin yarattığı etkilerin kabul edilebilir sınırları zorlayan baskıları artan dünya nüfusunun güvenli gıdaya ulaşmasını da etkilemektedir. Bu bağlamda, yerel ve ülke gözlem ve izleme lokasyonlarının desteklediği küresel ölçekli yönetim organizasyonlarıyla antropejenik baskıların azaltıldığı dünya iklim güvenliğinin sağlanması gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada, antropojenik iklim değişikliğinin sucul ekosistemler üzerinde yarattığı baskılarının balıkçılık ve su ürünleri üzerine etkileri özetlenmiştir.

The purpose of this study was to assess cultural energy (CE) use and energy use efficiency of a commercial small scale rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) cage farm in the inland waters in Karacaören Dam Lake, Isparta, Turkey. Data collected for each production year were: number and total weight of fingerlings, amount of feed consumed, amount of antibiotics, vitamin, labor, diesel, oxygen used, number and total weight of marketed trout, distance for transportation of fingerlings, machinery, and equipment with their depreciation rate. Total CE use was the sum of CE expended on feed, general management, transportation, machinery, and equipment. CE expended on compound diet constituted 77.78% of total CE. CE expended for a kg of liveweight gain was 2.68 Mcal. Protein energy production efficiency in carcass and fillet was 4.28 and 7.44 Mcal, respectively. CE energy use efficiency for carcass and fillet were 4.19 and 6.85, respectively. Results showed that in order to compare the sustainability of aquaculture production systems energy use efficiency which is an indicator of sustainability should be determined.

The carbon footprint (CF) of animal production systems can be estimated by their standings against global protein demand. Türkiye is the largest producer of rainbow trout in Europe, but there is little data on its CF. This study aimed to evaluate the CF expended of concrete pond rainbow trout (CPRT) farming. The data were obtained from a farm with an annual project production capacity of 350 tonnes (APC) over a three-year production (TYP) with different harvest amounts. The total CF expended was the summation of CF expended on compound diets, general management, transportation and machinery, equipment, and construction. The total CF expended was calculated at 1.78 and 1.67 kg CO2e on average for TYP and APC, respectively. The TYP average values of CF expended per kg of protein deposited in harvested/fresh weight fish and CF expended per Mcal of cultural energy expended during production were 10.66 and 0.36 kg CO2e, respectively. The CF expended per 100 kcal food energy in harvested fish was calculated at 0.1263 and 0.1173 kg CO2e on average for TYP and APC, respectively. Aquafeed production and transportation are the important CF expended sources in CPRT. Future studies must be species-specific and culture-specific.

As a climate change assessment criterion, carbon footprint CO2 equivalent (CF, CO2e) is used to evaluate the sustainability of aquaculture in terms of its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, the three-year CF of rainbow trout production with a cage farming project capacity of 49 tonnes/year was calculated. The average production capacity of the farm for three years was 52.72 %. Total CF expended was the summation of CF expended on feed, general management, transportation, machinery, and equipment. CF expended on the consumed compound diet had the highest contribution to total CF with 73.69 %. The second highest contributor to total CF was general management with a share of 13.08 % and, of this amount, diesel and labor constituted 78.49 and 19.36 % of it, respectively. Total CF expended per kg and 1 000 fish was 1.13 and 292.52 kg CO2e. Mean values for CF expended per kg carcass, per Mcal energy deposited in the carcass, and per gram of protein deposited in carcass were 1.69, 1.48, and 9.43 kg CO2e, respectively. On average, CF expended per Mcal of cultural energy expended during production was 0.35 kg CO2e. The mean of CF of FCRe, defined as total CF of consumed compound diet divided by total liveweight gain was 0.99 kg CO2e. Results showed that aquaculture is a low carbon-emitting sector thus is sustainable and this advantage should be considered when meeting people’s protein demand.Note: An ERRATUM was published on 19 April 2022 for this article. See Acta Aquatica Turcica, 2022, 18(2), 146-146. https://doi.org/10.22392/actaquatr.1103100