I grew up in Güzelbahçe on the shores of İzmir Bay. In those days, trata fishing was part of everyday life along the coast. I was always fascinated by the fishermen hauling their long nets ashore. Whenever they pulled in a net, I would go down to the beach and gather the sardines that spilled from it. Fish were so plentiful that the fishermen did not object to us collecting what had fallen. We took the sardines home, cooked them that day, and shared a meal as a family. In my childhood memories, trata fishing was not simply a way of catching fish: it was part of the lives of the families who lived beside the sea.
Trata fishing was a traditional form of seine fishing in which a net was hauled towards the shore using long ropes. The fishermen worked together, following a well-established routine as they pulled in the net, gathered it and cleaned it for the next haul. Keeping the lines and net from becoming tangled required experience and cooperation. Sometimes, during a break, they lit a fire on the beach, placed a sheet of metal over it and fried some of their catch without cleaning the fish first. They cleaned the fish as they ate. These are among the scenes I still remember: the working habits, companionship and unpretentious daily life of people whose lives were closely connected to the sea.
I began taking photographs in 1970. While still a high-school student, I photographed the fishermen on the Güzelbahçe shore that I had known since childhood. One of my trata photographs from 1973—the second photograph in this portfolio—was included in my first solo exhibition, Anadolu İnsanı ve Gerçekleri (The People and Realities of Anatolia), which opened on 26 May 1973 at the İzmir Atatürk Provincial Public Library. The exhibition was reported in the newspaper Yeni Ortam on 1 June 1973. I was nineteen years old and in my fourth calendar year of photography. In the interview, I spoke of my interest in changing scenes, movement and people. That approach has remained central to my photographic work.
In 1986, I photographed the trata fishermen in Güzelbahçe again. Thirteen years had passed, but the coordinated work on the shore, the hauling of nets and the rhythm of this fishing practice were still familiar. Through the camera, I was recording not only the fishermen but also the continuation of a way of life I had known since childhood. The ropes stretched across the shallows, the weight of the nets and the people pulling together had long been part of the daily landscape. At the time, I did not imagine that these images would one day become records of a vanished practice.
Trata and related coastal seine nets were once used in the Aegean. Over time, concerns about their effects on juvenile fish and marine habitats led to restrictions and, ultimately, a prohibition on this type of fishing in Türkiye's territorial waters. The abundance I remember from childhood should not obscure the environmental impact of the method. Yet the fishermen's labour, cooperation and relationship with the shore remain part of the social history of Güzelbahçe.
These eight photographs, made in 1973 and 1986, preserve glimpses of a fishing tradition no longer seen on the Güzelbahçe shore. For me, their meaning is personal. On the same beach where I once gathered sardines as a child, I later returned with a camera to document the fishermen at work. The presence of one of these photographs in my first exhibition connects this series to the very beginning of my photographic journey. More than half a century later, the shoreline and its ways of life have changed; the photographs remain as traces of the people, their work and their bond with the sea.
Archive Note — My First Photography Exhibition, 1973
The second photograph in this series appeared in my first solo exhibition, held in İzmir in May 1973. The exhibition was covered by Yeni Ortam on 1 June 1973.