TURKEY
Kuzuoglu Group pioneers Black Sea salmon exports
New processing plant to enhance product palette Led by Hasan Kuzuoglu since 2011, the Kuzuoglu Group encompasses several companies involved in the production, processing, marketing and sales of large rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Black Sea salmon (Salmo trutta labrax). The group is based in Rize on the Black Sea coast and is one of the pioneers in the production of this salmon variety, the commercial production of which started only 13 years ago in Turkey.
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he company was established in 1972 and started by producing and smoking rainbow trout. In 2011 Hasan Kuzuoglu returned from the US and decided to switch to producing salmon trout, the first person to do so in Turkey. The company was the first to export this fish to Japan and is now the biggest Turkish exporter to Russia. Its export success can be attributed not only to the high quality of the product, but also to the fact that it is currently the only company that can supply large salmon trout of the right colour, thanks to the feed used, around the year.
Fish produced in lake cages and marine cages Musa Ă–zer, the sales and marketing manager of the group and cousin to Hasan Kuzuoglu, has recently returned from Austria, where he was born and brought up, to take on his current position. Harvesting in the sea begins in October and continues to February and this season the company plans to produce 7,000 tonnes in the sea. However, it also produces fish in a freshwater lake an hour away from Rize in the hills, where the fish can be produced all the year around. By contrast, in the Black Sea the season is limited to the winter and early spring as 42
Musa Ă–zer, Sales and Marketing Manager, Kuzuolgu Group
thereafter the water temperature becomes too high for the fish. The hatchery is where the fish are bred before they are introduced in to cages in the sea as well as in to cages in the lake. It is fed by a river and is located close to the sea, which means that the fish when being transferred suffer less stress and arrive in the sea cages in good condition. The fish are derived from two sources. One is the company’s own broodstock, while the other is eggs that
are imported from the United States. These eggs are all female, which exhibit faster growth and better quality. The domestically produced eggs are mixed. Fish grown from the former are ongrown in the sea, while progeny from the local broodstock go to the lake. From the lake cages the trout are grown to big sizes, says Mr Ă–zer. In the sea the fish stay in the cages from about the third week of October until July during which time they grow to impressive sizes. The fish that are placed
in the cages, whether in the sea or the lake vary from 200 g to 600 g in size. This is so that every week from end of February to July a batch of fish will be of harvestable size. In the sea the fish can grow to 4-5 or even 5-6 kg, but the size at which they are harvested depends on the size the customer wants. Sea trout is very popular particularly on the Russian market, says Mr Ă–zer, and our customers there specify what sizes they want. As a result, we sometimes grow the fish to large sizes, while at others
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