In Istanbul in 1900, more than 15,000 fish were harvested in a net off the coast of Emirgan
During the Ottoman Empire, fish rarely appeared in the recipes of the Turks. Therefore, in the eyes of Europeans, Turks are not very good at cooking fish and seafood and aquatic products. There is a Jewish-run fish market in Istanbul (balıkpazarı). Most of the customers are native and Christian (BERNSCHWAM 125).
According to Perón, the Turks and Greeks preferred red meat to fish and were not interested in birds such as pheasants and quails. So although there are fish sold in Istanbul's markets, wild game birds are rarely seen. The Sultan and his closest vassals preferred the delicious birds of prey to hunt. （BELON 123b-124a）
Like many other Istanbulites, Boothbek was surprised by the routes of large fish swimming around Istanbul: instead of the surface waters of the Strait flowing from north to south, the big fish would travel north from the Mediterranean and Aegean seas through the Sea of Marmara and across the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. (i.e. density and compensation flows caused by poor salinity of seawater: the surface flows from low density to high density, and the bottom layer is compensated in reverse) On several occasions, there have been so many fish in istanbul waters that people can catch them with their bare hands on the shore.
Swordfish, Çipura, small-eyed snapper (karagöz) and red snapper (mercan), uskumru, tekir, mackerel or mullet (kefal), tuna are all common catches in Turkey. Most of the fishermen of the Ottoman period were made up of Greeks, and the Turks ate large quantities of marine fish during the period when fish was considered clean. （BUSBECQ 35）
Goldenhead seabream
Sheep fish
mullet
Porter with a big tuna
Boothbek once lived in Princes' Island for three months. The inhabitants of the Princes' Islands at that time were greeks. He found a Greek family to allow him to stay short, during which time a Turkish official from his legation even came to the island himself to restrict Busbek activities. So he could only walk on the big island or go for a walk on the neighboring island for the time allowed, of course, most of the time he was fishing. With the help of local fishermen, Boothbek uses shroud nets (sleeve nets) or butterfly trawls to catch seabream, sea bass, gobies, catfish and more. Busbek is not only interested in urban birds, but also enjoys studying the Turkish names and habits of various fish species. Sometimes he also catches crabs and shrimp with forks. （BUSBECQ 186-187）
Fishing boats near the Daughter Tower
According to Perón, dolphins, which were popular in Paris, France, were well protected in the Ottoman Empire by turks, Greeks, Jews, and people of the Fertile Crescent, who never ate dolphins. Jews did not eat caviar, but the Turks and Greeks ate it. Because according to Jewish law, all seafood except for scaly fish is fast. But the Jews would eat another red, salted roe, which seemed very tasty. Fishmongers in Istanbul and the Pella region marinate the intestines of the mackerel and make it into a seasoning. This spice is very sour and is loved by locals. Just as Westerners used vinegar, turks and Greeks used this fish seasoning to freshen dishes. （BELON 129b-130b）
Fishing boats and fishmongers near Eminonu Pier
In order to protect fish reproduction, in 1577 the Ottoman Empire issued a decree banning long net fishing. (AR 94) Perón describes the netting in fishing in the Sea of Marmara as follows:
Ottoman fishermen in Fausto Zonaro's pen
In shallow seas, usually near the coast, fishermen erect many long stakes on the seabed. Planks are nailed laterally to these stakes so that fishermen can easily climb up and walk on them. There is a place on top of the stake where you can sit, so that the species of fish in the water can be clearly identified from above.
Fishermen usually work in pairs of two. On each stake sat a man, holding a rope in his hand, and the other end of the rope went deep into the water. The end of the rope is connected to a fishing net. When the fisherman saw the fish entering the net, a man first pulled the rope upwards, and the large net under these ropes was woven of very fine silk threads, and when the rope was pulled up to close the net, the fish could not escape. One of them would then jump into the boat and pour all the fish into the boat to empty the net, ready to cast the net the next time. In this way, fishermen can catch many kinds of fish at once, such as mackerel, sheep fish, sea bass, seabream, etc., and sometimes dolphins enter the net.
Fixed fishing dock
Traditional fish weirs have become less and less numerous
In order not to let the net sink to the bottom, the sailors of the Sea of Marmara liked to use pine bark instead of floating to increase the buoyancy of the net. When using bag and raker nets, one boat is not competent for casting nets to catch fish, and two small boats are needed to move in parallel, and the nets are connected between the two boats. Sprinklers generally choose to drive towards the coast in the sea without rocks. After the fishing boat reaches the shallow sea, the sailors paddle and pull up the nets to close the nets. If an octopus is caught, people will kill the octopus by biting its teeth on the head, and if they catch a moray eel, they will use a stick to shoot the moray eel to death. Because fishermen are generally afraid of being bitten by moray eels. If a ray is caught, its tail is cut off immediately to avoid being stung. （BELON 123b-126a）
Ordinary citizens will use the handle to copy the net in the sea to shake hard to catch small marine fish such as small silver fish. Eels and sharks need to be caught with a hook. At that time, large wooden boats with dual sails and oars and ordinary boats could not go to sea without fishing nets. As soon as the calm sea conditions appear, the ships throw a rake net into the sea or a cover net on the surface of the sea.
Fishermen from the Black Sea, the Bosphorus And the Sea of Marmara also paddle small boats in pairs with lanterns at night to go fishing. One person on the boat was in charge of paddling, and the other was crouching at the stern of the boat with a harpoon staring at the surface. As soon as you find a big fish sleeping in the sea, immediately clench your fist and release your fist to signal that the target has appeared. This is done to avoid disturbing the target, as even the slightest sound on the surface of the sea will wake up a sleeping fish. The fisherman slowly swung the oar and rowed the boat directly above the fish, at which point the harpoons of the other five or six men stabbed downward at the same time. This method works best when hunting octopuses and squid, but is also used to catch other scaly fish.
Fishing boat on the shores of Tarabya in 1900
Another way to catch fish at night is to put 200 to 300 hooks with bait into the sea in the evening. In order not to let the hook sink to the bottom, it is also necessary to tie a gourd to increase buoyancy. Early the next morning, the fisherman retrieved his rod and returned with a full load. （BELON 127a-129a）
bibliography
Metin And, 16. Istanbul / Kent-Saray-Daily Life in the 19th century, YKY 2018.
Kutsi Smart, fish and fishing in the Ottoman Empire, 2019.