Illegal sale of fish at 4 Mori, fines and seizures – Livornopress

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June 28, 2024

Coast guard, municipal and local health authority blitz

Livorno 28 June 2024 – Illegal sale of fish at 4 Mori, fines and seizures

Under the magnifying glass, the area where the direct sale of fish takes place daily in Darsena Vecchia, in the port of Livorno, right in front of the Quattro Mori.

After a targeted observation activity, in the last few days the military personnel of the Livorno Coast Guard, together with the Municipal Police and the prevention technicians of the Usl, have carried out an operation aimed at contrasting one of the phenomena with the greatest impact on the fishing industry and on the health of the consumer: we are talking about the so-called phenomenon of the «abusiveness».

The objective of the intervention was to intercept and track down illegal workers who, disguising themselves as regularly authorized professional fishermen, sell fish products of dubious origin on the stalls, leaving the unsuspecting consumer to understand that they are fish just caught by local fishing boats in the seas of Tuscany.

The sale of fish products by operators without the required commercial and health authorizations prevents the provenance and correct conservation of the product from being guaranteed and, consequently, exposes the buyer to fraud and potential risks, as well as generating damage cheap to honest local operators who offer retail prices that are necessarily higher than those offered by squatters.

Due the identified subjects, one of whom was a Georgian national – who was also found to be illegal on the national territory – who were sanctioned with fines for a total of 13.000 euro in addition to the seizure of fish illegally exposed for sale.

Part of the products, after assessment of suitability for human consumption by the Health Authority which also intervened on site, went to charity at Caritas in Livorno.

The joint controls will continue to be incisive and periodic – the Authorities involved report – to limit the risk of infiltration by illegal subjects and to monitor the correct execution of direct sales by professional fishermen.

The message is to warn consumers and make them aware of the need to be wary of the illegal sale of fish products perpetrated by unauthorized parties who offer no guarantee of the healthiness of the fish on display.

Illegal sale of fish at 4 Mori, fines and seizures