Determination of Consumption Habits of Aquatic Products in Ardahan Province

The aim of this study is to determine the consumption habits of aquatic products in Ardahan province and its districts. The study carried out between 2014 and 2015 was prepared face to face with the consumers by using a questionnaire prepared to measure the consumption habits of aquatic products. The research material consisted of data collected from 302 people by face to face survey method. When the demographic data were analysed according to the results of the study; 73.84% of the respondents were native to Ardahan and 26.15% were immigrants, 38.08% were female, 61.92% were male, the average age was 32.50 and the average monthly income was 1862.80 TL. According to the findings of the study, per capita annual fish consumption is 39 kg and per capita monthly fish consumption is 3.25 kg. The most preferred species of freshwater fish was trout (75.22%), while anchovy was found in marine fish (48.57%). While 21.98% of the participants consume fish, 18.73% chicken, 17.62% veal, 13.52% goose, 13.34% sheep, 6.67% goat meat and 4.19% turkey meat, only 1.71% prefer aquatic species such as mussels and shrimps. The important reason why fish is preferred is being healthy with 45.03%. The other most consumed aquatic products is mussel with 11.92%. It was determined that 76.49% of the consumers did not consume aquatic products other than fish. As a result, it is determined that although there is no coastline of Ardahan and the socio-economic level of the people is not high, the consumption of fish is high. The people of the region who deal with cattle as a source of livelihood prefer to consume aquatic products. In this respect, Ardahan is at the level that can be an example to Turkey.