https://www.scopesscience.com/index.php/aqar <p><strong>Aims and Scopes</strong></p> <p><em>AQUATIC ANIMAL REPORTS (AQAR)</em>, an International Scientific Journal, publishes peer-reviewed original research articles, short communications, technical notes, letters to the Editor with innovative opinion and visions for the future, and critical review articles enlightening scientific understanding of the aquatic system with wide aspects in aquaculture, nutrition, animal behavior, diseases, animal physiology, fish and shellfish biology, aquatic living resources, aquaculture and environment, fisheries and human interactions from all over the World. <a href="https://scopesscience.com/index.php/aqar/about">More&gt;&gt;</a></p> Prof. Dr. Sebahattin Ergün. Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, Department of Aquaculture, Canakkale, TURKEY en-US AQUATIC ANIMAL REPORTS (AQAR) 2980-1087 https://www.scopesscience.com/index.php/aqar/article/view/108 <p>The occurrence of microplastics in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) was comparatively investigated under different rearing conditions (farmed and wild) and across seasons (summer and winter). A total of 172 fish were analyzed for microplastics in muscle tissue and intestines. Microplastics were separated using a 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) digestion protocol, and polymer types were identified via ATR FT-IR spectroscopy. Suspicious particles in the meat samples were smaller and more suitable for measurement with the μ-FT-IR device, and therefore could not be detected. In terms of microplastics in the intestines, the number of positive fish in the wild group during the winter period was significantly higher (p&lt;0.05) compared to the farm group. The MP/Fish Count in the wild samples during the winter period (1.23±0.17) was significantly higher than in the summer (0.61±0.10) and winter (0.37±0.11) farm groups (p&lt;0.05). The average amount of microplastics was 0.52 microplastics/fish in farmed samples and 0.94 microplastics/fish in wild samples. Two types of plastics were identified: polystyrene and polyethylene. This study contributes to the literature by providing important and comparative data on microplastic contamination in gilthead sea bream from aquaculture and wild environments in Turkish waters.</p> Ayşenil BAYİZİT Sevdan YILMAZ Sebahattin ERGÜN Murat YİĞİT Yeşim BÜYÜKATEŞ Bilge ERDEM Murat ERDEM Copyright (c) 2025 Ayşenil BAYİZİT, Sevdan YILMAZ, Sebahattin ERGÜN, Murat YİĞİT, Yeşim BÜYÜKATEŞ, Bilge ERDEM, Murat ERDEM https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2025-12-05 2025-12-05 4 1 1 10 10.5281/zenodo.17847765 https://www.scopesscience.com/index.php/aqar/article/view/117 <p>The present study aims to evaluate production trends between Turkish and Greek marine aquaculture activities with focus on human resources by population growth. Both Türkiye and Greece are the main drivers of marine aquaculture industry in the southern European Seas according to FAO statistics, with a remarkable supply of marine fish to meet the growing food demand of the drastically increasing world population. In regards to growth trends and economic performance, human resources play an important role for the continuity of the sustainable development, and safety of the aquaculture industry. Two main fish species in production, namely Gilthead seabream (<em>Sparus aurata</em>) and European seabass (<em>Dicentrarchus labrax</em>) were used for the comparative evaluation of growth trends and value indices with superimposed figures on population growth over the last two decades from 2003 to 2023. Greek marine fish harvest increased by 1.54-fold between 2003-2023. The figure for the Turkish aquaculture showed 8.35-fold increase for the same time span. Even though Greece recorded 52.79% higher fish production in 2003 compared to the Turkish marine harvest, the latter supplied 34.84% higher fish harvest in 2023, compared to the Greek production. In regards to economic gains, Turkish production of seabream and seabass was 2.86-fold of the Greek production for the same species in 2023. The correlation between fish harvest yields and population growth for the Turkish aquaculture was remarkably strong (R= 0.938). Greece however demonstrated a negative correlation of R= -0.667 for the same variables investigated. The results of this study indicate that not only production volume but also human resources play a significant role in production gains. Besides a variety of factors influencing aquaculture production, human resources may create a rupture in a competitive environment, which is encouraged to be considered in the management and production planning of aquaculture enterprises.</p> Ümüt YIGIT Copyright (c) 2025 Ümüt YIGIT https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2025-12-05 2025-12-05 4 1 11 20 10.5281/zenodo.17798632