Turkish Retailer Carrefoursa Creates "Ghost Town" to Show İmpact Abandoned Gear Has on Small-Scale Fishing

To illustrate the importance of small-scale fishing and to highlight the damage that lost and abandoned fishing gear can have on coastal communities, Turkish supermarket chain CarrefourSA, a subsidiary of Sabancı Holding and Carrefour Group, recently launched a campaign titled, “If fishing dies, Ocaklar dies.”

29 Mart 2025 - 02:39

Ocaklar, a Turkish coastal town in the Balıkesir Erdek district, is one of many Turkish villages to be affected by “ghost gear,” which are nets and other gear left over from fishing activities that can destroy marine habitats and put the livelihoods of communities at risk, according to Cagla Yalcinkaya, the brand director at Turkish agency TBWA\Istanbul, which carried out the campaign on behalf of CarrefourSA.

Using lost nets taken from the ocean, on 27 February, TBWA\Istanbul turned Ocaklar into a town overrun by ghost gear; the installation remained in place for three days. The project was accompanied by a video that features the voices of veteran fishers, young people, and local residents who emphasize the urgency of taking action for the protection of the sea.

Preparations for the campaign took about 18 months, Yalcinkaya said, telling SeafoodSource that the residents of the town were excited by the project and keen to contribute to it.