Italian fishermen have found a way out by exporting the invasive blue crab that once plagued them. Expected revenue this year alone reaches about 31.6 billion won.
The Turnaround of the Invasive Crab That Tormented Fishermen
A fishermen's cooperative in Polesine, in Italy's northeastern Veneto region, is projected to earn as much as 20 million euros (about 31.6 billion won) this year from blue crab exports, the Associated Press reported on the 2nd. Because damage from the blue crab was so severe that the area once declared a state of emergency, the result is being described as a dramatic reversal.
The blue crab is a crustacean native to the Atlantic coast of North America. In recent years, as climate change pushed Mediterranean water temperatures higher, it expanded its range, reached Italian coastal waters and began breeding rapidly. Its numbers exploded starting in 2023, sharply reducing Italy's native green crab population and inflicting heavy damage on clam farming, the main livelihood of local fishermen.
Fishermen caught blue crabs indiscriminately and incinerated them in bulk, and also released tens of thousands of octopuses, a natural predator, into the sea in an attempt to cut the population. Neither produced noticeable results. Another obstacle was that most Italians do not eat blue crab and often find it unappealing.
A campaign promoting consumption under the slogan "If you can't beat them, eat them" even emerged locally, but it drew little response. Meanwhile, the Polesine cooperative's annual revenue shrank to 15 million euros (about 23.7 billion won), and its membership fell to 850 from a peak of 1,500.
"We'll Just Sell Abroad" — Fishermen Find a Path Through Exports
With no options left, the Polesine fishermen changed strategy altogether and decided to open new export markets in Asia and elsewhere. Blue crab currently trades at 1.3 euros per kilogram, and fishermen are said to be shipping 100 to 150 kilograms of the crab each morning.
The catch is sent frozen to Sri Lanka. Workers there pick the meat by hand to make processed products, and some of it is then re-imported into Italy.
The shift is being described as a case of a local fishing industry battered by an invasive species turning a crisis into a new opportunity.
Paolo Mancin, head of the Polesine fishermen's cooperative, told the Associated Press that he hopes the crab meat returning from Sri Lanka will help open the hearts of Italian consumers who had been indifferent to the promotional campaigns.
