By Alexandros Avramidis
THERMAIC GULF, Greece (Reuters) – When Anastasios Zakalkas pulled up the ropes of his mussel farm within the Aegean Sea final month, the devastation was clear: the traces weren’t heaving with molluscs as they need to be at harvest time however have been as an alternative stuffed with cracked, empty shells.
It’s the second time in three years that file sea temperatures have hit the mussel harvest in northern Greece, the place farmers stated they noticed a 90% drop within the 2024 catch. Subsequent (LON:) yr might be a dud too, Zakalkas stated, as a result of all of the seed for the approaching season additionally perished.
“The destruction we suffered (for next year) was 100%,” 35-year-old Zakalkas stated aboard his fishing boat on a balmy morning in late October. “We don’t know how we’ll make a living in the new year. Our main and only job is mussels,” he stated.
Like different Mediterranean international locations, Greece is especially vulnerable to local weather change, which this yr led to months of above-average temperatures, punishing drought and wildfires. Crops, together with chestnuts, apples and cherries have been hit. Scientists say excessive climate linked to world warming might spell unhealthy information for its aquaculture sector too.
A collection of heatwaves hit Greece in July, sending sea temperatures within the Thermaic Gulf, its major mussel producing space, above 30 levels Celsius (86°F) for days – too scorching for mussels to outlive.
Greece final noticed mass mussel deaths in 2021 however scientists forecast that it might not be repeated for one more 10 years, stated Kostas Koukaras, a biologist who research marine ecosystems.
“This shows, even to those most sceptical, that the climate crisis is here,” he stated.
As world leaders put together to fulfill in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku for this month’s U.N. local weather summit COP29 – dubbed the “climate finance COP” – Koukaras stated governments ought to assist producers cope with climate-related prices.
“We’re very close to the collapse of mussel farming in Greece, so the state needs to support these people,” he stated.
Greece’s aquaculture manufacturing was price over 619 million euros in 2021, the third in Europe after France and Spain, in response to the Hellenic Aquaculture Producers Group (HAPO). It’s amongst Europe’s major producers of the Mediterranean mussel and exports practically all the 20,000 tonnes farmed yearly by small household companies.
Spain has additionally seen mussel deaths, though Koukaras stated Greece’s sector was hit hardest as a result of practically all its farms are concentrated in the identical area.
For the 100 or so mussel farming households in Zakalkas’ small city of Kymina, the longer term seems dim. They’re looking for state compensation to repay money owed, whereas others are on the lookout for work in factories, he stated.
“We’re afraid,” stated Sotiris Tsaros, one other mussel farmer. “If this happens again next year, we’ll all leave and everything I’ve done as a farmer for the last 30 years will be gone.”
