Akyatan Lagoon is a 14700-hectare wetland ecosystem that is designated as Wetland of International Importance by Ramsar Convention. A major stopover for migrating birds, Akyatan is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. It is the single largest green turtle rookery at the Mediterranean, holding 43% of the Mediterranean nesting population.
The lagoon is located at the northeastern edge of Mediterranean Sea, 30 km south of the city of Adana, in Cilicia region of Turkey. The entrance to the lagoon is either from Tuzla or through Küçük Karataş Village.
Akyatan is one of the richest lagoons in the Eastern Mediterranean. Large numbers of fish enter the lagoon from the sea. Karataş fishermen built a traditional fish trap at the exit from the lagoon to the sea, to capture species like gray mullet, gilt-head bream, sea bass, eel, Capoeta antalyensis (ray-finned fish), barbus, carp, common carp, rainbow trout and capoeta. On the eastern section of the lagoon, blue crab is caught. Illegal and careless fishing, collecting juvenile fish, and pollution caused by farmlands jeopardize the future of the fish population in the area.
