The Mediterranean is changing face. No longer only the cradle of biodiversity and strategic economic resource for the coastal regions, but theater today of a deep and structural crisis that puts the entire fishing sector to the test. According to the latest Fedagripesca Confcooperative estimates, the fishing activity has reduced up to 40% to some areas.
And the reason is to be found in a phenomenon as insidious as it is now familiar, namely the waves of marine heat.
What’s behind the drop in fishing
When we talk about climate change, we often focus on the visible effects on the ground: compromised agriculture, forest fires, drought. But under the surface of the sea, an equally dramatic crisis is being consumed and, in some ways, even more insidious.
The high temperatures of marine waters cause a real thermal stress on fish, altering the behaviors, reducing reproductive capacity up to -30% and modifying whole ecosystems.
This alteration affects key species for commercial fishing in the Mediterranean, such as swordfish, red tuna, raspberry, sardine, curls. They are animals that live mainly in the first layers of the water column, those most exposed to heating. When the sea warms an anomalous and prolonged way, these fish move, they become more difficult to find and capture, or reduce their presence due to the poor reproduction.
The result is that the nets of the fishermen remain empty or semi -empty, especially in the periods that were once considered the most profitable.
A upset habitat
Fedagripesca denounces the chaos in the marine habitats, which explains how the raising of temperatures not only directly affects commercial species, but changes the entire Marina food chain.
Some temperate species, such as sardines and anchovies, migrate north in search of freshest waters. The carnivorous species, such as groupers, sharks and dentics, drastically decrease, due to both the lack of prey and environmental stress.
On the contrary, the herbivorous species increase, which thrive thanks to the proliferation of algae favored by the heat.
In essence, the ecological balance of the Mediterranean is upset. And when the marine ecosystem is unbalanced, the first victim is the fish economy.
As if that were not enough, the proliferation of alien species is added to the crisis of the native species, which further alter the ecological balance and put traditional supply chains at risk. According to Fedagripesca, within five years one species out of three will be alien in the Mediterranean.
Today these already represent 6% of the total, about 1,200 species between fish, molluscs and crustaceans originating from other areas of the planet, often introduced involuntarily through the waters of ballast of ships or following the opening of the Suez canal, which find in the warm waters of the Mediterranean a perfect environment to proliferate.
Some of these species are even invasive, predatory autochthonous fish or direct competitors for food and habitats.
The economic consequences
The result of this crisis is a collapse of revenues and an increase in costs. The Italian marineries – in particular those of the Sicily, Puglia, Calabria and Campania – They record a strong contraction in useful fishing days, while management costs increase due to dear fuel, the need to cover greater distances to find fish, the most burdensome maintenance of networks and boats.
Many operators in the sector are abandoning the activity or resorting to social safety nets. The young people move away from fishing, discouraged by an uncertain future and an increasingly tiring and less profitable profession. And this represents a concrete threat to the very survival of the Mediterranean fish economy.
To this is added the fact that, with the decrease in the offer, consumer prices increase, but often this does not translate into greater earnings for fishermen, but in higher margins for intermediaries and retailers. The local fish is often replaced by imported products, coming from distant seas where environmental conditions are even more favorable, but where checks on quality and sustainability are often less rigorous.
