Abstract

Pufferfish, a species of indo-pacific origin entered the Mediterranean with the opening of the Suez Canal. It has become one of the dominant alien fish species, spreading to the Mediterranean and has a change to reproduce in excessive amount. Pufferfish luckily find many available food resources but less predator. Because of this imbalanced prey-predator relationship in the Mediterranean ecosystem, pufferfish stock has expanded in aquatic communities. Additionally, people around the region do not consume these fish species. Moreover, pufferfish stock density is a major problem for small scale fishing in İskenderun Bay. The aim of this study is to indicate the economic evaluability impacts of pufferfish in terms of ecosystem balance in İskenderun Bay. If pufferfish can be evaluated economically, it may reduce density of pufferfish and help finding a solution in aquatic balance in Iskenderun Bay. There are four souvenir shop in in İskenderun sell different stuffs (e.g., unusual gifts, accessories, and lantern) made of pufferfish. For this purpose, pufferfish, ranging in length from 6 cm to 64 cm, is dried and inflated filled with cotton material. Then outside of the pufferfish is fixed by varnish are cost between 10 and 50 Turkish Lira in İskenderun. The output of this present research suggests that pufferfish can be used as economically important commercial value raw item either food stuff or souvenir item. These fish species can be imported to countries e.g., in many countries especially in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea.