Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey has taken action to use discarded products in fisheries for pet nutrition. Taking action to create a sector in this field, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality held the introductory meeting of the Erasmus-Plus Maripet project with stakeholders from Ege University, Balıkesir University and abroad. Speaking at the meeting, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Ertuğrul Tugay said, “We will create training programs with our stakeholders. We will contribute to the pet food industry with awareness activities.”
The discarded products are thrown into the sea as waste, both because they consist of species with no economic value and because they are below the catch length. Conversion of discarded fish into pet food or one of its components points to an economic value chain. For this, a training program will be created by bringing together different experts and institutions. There will be studies for the fisheries and pet food industry.
İzmir Metropolitan Municipality will carry out the process of completing the survey preparations, organizing the meetings, carrying out the promotional activities of the project, and organizing the closing meeting of the project in 2024 in İzmir with all the country stakeholders.