President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed fishers during an event held in Istanbul for the start of the 2023-2024 fishing season. Stressing that the fishery generates employment for nearly 250 thousand people in the country, President Erdoğan wished a fruitful season to fishers. Praising the contributions made to the Turkish economy by people who earn their livelihood from sea, President Erdoğan cited some of the steps aimed at supporting the fishery in Türkiye, and said: “You are the ones who know best the supports we extend to the fishery. We have been offering fuel without excise tax since 2004 in a bid to lower our fishers’ costs.” Noting that 15.6 billion liras’ worth of excise tax-free fuel support has been provided to fishers thus far, President Erdoğan added: “We provide cheap loans to sea products hunters and producers via Ziraat Bank and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives. We have supported the sector with a total of 23.2 billion liras’ worth of subsidized credits since 2002.”