Rapidly diminishing water reserves in Milas have caused a “water war” between cotton producers and fisheries. Cotton farmers allege that they cannot derive sufficient benefit from water supplies because of the fish pools.
It has been announced that the establishment of nearly 60 field fisheries in Milas in fertile lands with plenty of water sources adversely affect cotton farming.
Members of the Executive Board of the Cotton Sales Farming Cooperative Nr. 152, visiting Milas Kaymakam Şahin Aslan, voiced the problems of the industry. Chairman of the Cooperative, Mehmet Tanış, pointed out that while 8 thousand acres were planted with cotton in previous years, cotton fields had shrunk to around 1,000 acres recently. Complaining of the low base price for cotton, Tanış said that the most important issue of the sector, impacted by the water shortage accompanying global warming, was the lack of an irrigation infrastructure.
Tanış said, “Cotton in Milas is on the point of disappearing completely due to high production costs. Cotton is facing extinction. Farmers are moving rapidly away from cotton. The field fisheries carried out in fertile fields use too much of the water sources. This needs to be regulated.”
Milas Kaymakam Şahin Aslan also declared support for Tanış, who says that regulations are needed only allowing fisheries to be established in the open seas.
Cotton, experiencing a loss of nearly 40% this year due to draught, faces another problem today. The newly innovated and fast spreading field fisheries, requiring large amounts of water and being built on fertile fields, inevitably neighbor cotton fields. Cotton, already impacted by draught arising from global warming, and which only needs irrigation for three months before being harvested, suffers badly when, it has to share underground water reserves with fisheries which need water 365 days a year.
