THE LAST TRAP

THE LAST TRAP
PRODUCTION-MANAGEMENT : CÜNEYT ALPAY 2023 ©

Kumbükü Dalyan, located within the borders of Karaburun District of İzmir/TURKEY Province, has been run by a family from Karaburun for generations. It is understood that this type of fishing in the form of a crash net, which their grandfathers learned from the Greeks, had been carried on in this region for hundreds of years and met the fish needs of the people.

However, as it can be understood from the interviews in the film, some important developments in recent years seem to have eliminated the sustainability of the fishing method with the slug fish. Large-scale industrial fishing, which is carried out collectively with modern methods and tools, using the latest technology, reduces the fish population in our seas and does not give small-scale local fishermen a chance to live.

In the movie, an evaluation of the previous ones is made by the owners of Kumbükü, accompanied by footage shot ten years ago, which may be considered the last images of Kumbükü Dalyan, and the possible reasons that created this situation are mentioned and examples are given.

In addition to intense purse seine and trawler fishing, it is also mentioned that migrating fish such as sea bass or mullet have changed their natural migration and feeding habits due to fish hatcheries, and it is emphasized that slump nets, whose only source of catch is seasonal migratory fish close to the shore, are adversely affected by this situation.

These herds, which accumulate in the vicinity of fish farms, where large amounts of feed are poured out of the coast and completely change their feeding habits, are being hunted in large quantities by large purse seine and trawler boats, and this is preparing the end of the aforementioned fishery and coastal fisheries, and perhaps our seas.

As a matter of fact, the film ends with the abandoned, demolished and derelict images of Kumbükü Dalyan, which was seen to partially meet the local fish needs during the first shootings, ten years later.

  • Cüneyt Alpay
    Director
  • Cüneyt Alpay
    Writer
  • Cüneyt Alpay
    Producer
  • Levent Kabalı
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    SON TUZAK
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    33 minutes 31 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 25, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Turkey
  • Country of Filming:
    Turkey
  • Language:
    Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Cüneyt Alpay

Cüneyt Alpay (Istanbul, 1962) is a mountain guide, travel photographer, editor and author. He speaks English and German. In early 2000’s, he ran an online magazine which was one of top three visited web sites in Turkey. His passion, experiences and memories of fishing was reflected in his book, “Balık Avı Hikayeleri” (Fishing Stories), published by Denizler Kitabevi. He made several documentaries based on the places and people that he met while he was traveling for amateur fishing and underwater photography. His 24-minute long documentary, “Sivrice’de Son Usta” (The Last Master in Sivrice), is about an old man who is considered to be one of the last surviving amateur fishing masters. He made “Fırat’ın Tutsağı” (Trapped in the Euphrates) to draw attention to Luciobarbus esocinus (Fırat Turnası), an endemic largest freshwater fish of Turkey, which is about to become extinct because of the new dams built in the region. "Trapped in the Euphrates" was completed in 2018 and made it to the finals in the Documentary and Short Film Competition of the Boston Turkish Film Festival. His last work "Son Tuzak" (The Last Trap) is completed in 2023.

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