Enforced Protections
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Increase hectares under active enforcement
Improving
Gökova Bay to Cape Gelidonya
Türkiye
Problem: Areas being designated as No-Fishing Zones (NFZs) is just the first step towards ecosystem recovery; these waters also need to be patrolled and the rules enforced to ensure effective protection. The government has limited capacity for implementing patrolling of NFZs, so despite legal designations, fishing can still occur in these areas.
Action: AKD has set up a Marine Ranger System, which trains and employs rangers to enforce the protected areas within the project area.
Indicator: The area of NFZs under active enforcement indicates the area that can be considered effectively (not just theoretically) protected. Ranger training is also tracked.
Methods
The project established a Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool, known as SMART. An phone app collected GPS-integrated data about patrolling routes, times, distances, and incidences of illegal activity. This data was fed into the SMART database. Additional data was also recorded including illegal fishing incidence details, pictures, videos and confiscated gear.
This data was used to track the number of hectares under active patrol (defined as at least 12 times per year). Additional variables such as incidents per patrol, incidents per hours patrolled or incidents per distance patrolled were also calculated.
AKD also tracked the training it provided to patrol rangers. This training included:
- Basic Marine Ranger training – conflict resolution methods, fast boat driving instruction, in-field training, and training on issues commonly encountered at sea
- Programme review and training refresher – refresher training on issues encountered in the field, safety rules, and presentation of the ELSP
Gökova Bay project area. NFZs under active patrol (at least 12 patrols per year) for at least one year between 2019-2023 are marked with black arrows.
Datça-Bozburun project area. NFZs under active patrol (at least 12 patrols per year) for at least one year between 2019-2023 are marked with black arrows.
Fethiye-Göcek project area. NFZs under active patrol (at least 12 patrols per year) for at least one year between 2019-2023 are marked with black arrows.
Kaş project area. NFZs under active patrol (at least 12 patrols per year) for at least one year between 2019-2023 are marked with black arrows.
Results
Patrol effort in terms of the area of patrols, number of NFZ patrolled and number of patrols have increased considerably between 2019 and 2023 (Fig. 1). Area under active patrols in 2023 was 3301 ha, increasing from the baseline of 2004 in 2019. The number of patrols increased from 824 across one project area (Gökova) in 2019 to 1145 patrols across three project areas by 2023 (Fethiye-Göcek, Datça-Bozburun and Gökova) and rose from four NFZ in 2019 to nine in 2023.
Figure 1: Area (ha) patrolled, number of NFZs under active enforcement, and number of patrols, across four project areas.
Training over the course of the project has varied year on year based on the needs of AKD staff and rangers, with a total of 39 sessions held over the period of 2019 to 2023 in a range of topics related to marine protected area implementation and management, building local capacity to ensure effective surveillance practices (Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Cumulative number of people trained over the project period across three project areas. Various types of training were delivered according to the project needs.
Interpretation
AKD continually reviewed the best way to distribute limited resources for monitoring, control and surveillance activities, accounting for multiple factors including threat levels (from previous monitoring, illegal fishing data, direct reports, seasonal changes and biodiversity priorities), logistical constraints (such as distance of NFZ from the boat station and associated costs in time and fuel) and environmental conditions (such as adverse weather or rough seas), ensuring consistent patrols and visibility while also maintaining irregularity in their schedule to reduce avoidance.
As a result, patrols in the well-established Gökova area remained relatively constant across time, decreasingly slightly from the baseline rather than expanding, and this patrol effort appeared to be sufficient to maintain a reduction in incidences of illegal activity. More focus was placed on increasing patrols in areas with newer designations (such as Göcek and Datça-Bozburun) where sites are extremely degraded (as seen from seagrass and fish biomass data) or where key biodiversity needs protection.
Publications
Kızılkaya, Z., Saydam, E., Walker, K. et al. Progress and challenges of multi-habitat marine restoration in the eastern Aegean Sea, Türkiye. npj Ocean Sustain 4, 12 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00114-9
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