Fishermen resist cage-farming project as “vira bismillah” echoes through Turkish fishing village

The fishing season opened with tulum music, horon dancing and repeated cries of “Bismillah, vira” in Balıkçı Village in Rize’s Pazar district.

Many residents and fishermen joined the ceremony at the harbor, where purse-seine boats received a festive send-off for their first trip of the new season. The fishermen said they were hopeful about the months ahead and wished for a plentiful and accident-free season.

But the village’s celebration was paired with an ongoing local struggle. Residents continue to oppose a cage-farming project that the Kuzuoğlu Group wants to establish along the village coast.

With the fishing ban over, fishermen returned to sea while stressing that natural fishing must be protected and that the project must not damage the livelihoods of local fishing families. Villagers repeated their call for the proposed cage-farming development to be abandoned.