“The high price paid by the fishing industry due to the invasion of the blue crab risks doubling if no measures are taken”. Coldiretti, which is currently in Venice where the ‘Villaggio Coldiretti’ has been set up, once again raises the alarm about the presence of the ‘killer of the seas’ “which devastates clam and mussel farms but also makes a clean sweep of oysters, clams, other crustaceans and fish such as sole and grey mullet”.
Even “in Puglia the coasts are at risk – states the regional Coldiretti – from the lagoon of Lesina and Varano to the basins behind the dunes of Salento, with damage to the ecosystem, but above all to the paranza fishery, decimated and made unsellable by the attacks of the alien crab. The blue crab, the alien species native to the Atlantic coasts of America, is taking over the seabed of the Adriatic coast – underlines Coldiretti Puglia – driven by climate change and warming of the waters which have made our environments more suitable for its survival and proliferation.
“A solution to contain the excessive spread of crabs could be their fishing for consumption. In this way – continues Coldiretti – it would be possible to transform what is now a calamity into an opportunity, with the inclusion in zero-mile menus, starting from fish tourism, fishing tourism and agritourism on the coast, in compliance with territorial regulations. The blue crab also boasts important nutritional properties, thanks to a strong presence of vitamin B12, extremely precious for the human body but also has a delicate and tasty flavor. Prices for those who want to buy it are around ten euros per kilo. But there is also – adds Coldiretti Puglia – the reuse of blue crab waste, from which chitin and chitosan are extracted, for example, substances widely used for biomedical and nutraceutical purposes such as in food supplements”.
“Faced with the spread of what is listed by science among the worst invasive species introduced in the Mediterranean, with a very serious impact on lagoon ecosystems that is today only the “tip of the iceberg” of a real ecological catastrophe, the solution is to promote the consumption of blue crab, with the creation of a supply chain that involves fishing, large-scale distribution, restaurants and agritourism”, claims Coldiretti.
