Summer without clams, mussels and oysters: “100 million euros in damage from blue crabs”

The budget drawn up by Coldiretti Pesca, with Veneto being the region most affected by the emergency

“The blue crab has so far caused damage amounting to 100 million euros to Italian fishermen, devastating clam and mussel farms but also making a clean sweep of oysters, cockles, other crustaceans and fish such as sole and mullet, for a bill that risks doubling if measures are not taken to stop the invasion of the ‘killer of the seas'” .

This is the budget drawn up byColdiretti Pesca al Villaggio di Venezia, with Veneto being the region most affected by the emergency. For the occasion, an exhibition of the species most at risk due to the invasion of the alien species native to the Atlantic coasts of America was set up, while the fishermen and farmer chefs of Campagna Amica prepared a series of recipes to enhance the the fearsome predator, with capture for consumption which is today the most valid solution to address the problem. “The Po Delta is the area where the presence of the blue crab is causing the most extensive damage. Starting from spring 2023 and to date, both on the Veneto and Emilian sides, the production of clams has been practically eliminated, with the predator capable of literally crushing the shells after having pulled them out of the sand of the seabed

Mussel farms have also been devastated, starting with the prized Scardovari Dop. A situation that threatens the survival of over 2,000 families in the area, with a large part of the employees of cooperatives and consortia finding themselves on redundancy pay and with difficulty for the employees of individual businesses who cannot benefit from it.

A mortal threat for a sector, that of aquaculture, which is one of the flagships of Made in Italy fishing with a production value of around half billion euros, where the heaviest item is represented by mussels, with clams in third place. But the production of oysters is also growing and is becoming a Made in Italy excellence”.