- Title: 'Climate change is here': extreme heat ravages Greece's mussels harvest
- Date: 17th September 2021
- Summary: THERMAIC GULF, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 15, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MUSSEL FARMS HANGING FROM ROPES IN THE SEA COMPLETELY COVERED IN WHITE TUBE WORMS THAT IN HIGH TEMPERATURES CLING TO THE MUSSELS AND KILL THEM, BEING RAISED ONTO MUSSEL FARMERS BOAT VARIOUS OF FARMER TAKING MUSSEL FARM SACK OFF ROPE AND CUTTING IT OPEN, EMPTYING MUSSELS ON DECK OF BOAT, OPENING SHELLS AND SHOWING THAT THERE ARE NO MUSSELS INSIDE THE SHELLS BECAUSE THEY WERE COMPLETELY BOILED FROM THE HIGH TEMPERATURES MUSSELS FARMER STEFANOS SOUGIOULTZIS SQUATTING OVER MUSSEL FARM ON BOAT, CRACKING OPEN MUSSELS AND SAYING: (Greek) "IT'S JUST THE SHELLS, THERE IS NO LIVING THING ANYWHERE," SOUGIOULTZIS OPENING MUSSELS WITH HIS HANDS MUSSEL SHELLS EMPTY WITHOUT MUSSELS INSIDE (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) MUSSELS FARMER STEFANOS SOUGIOULTZIS SAYING: "It was as if they had boiled in their own environment. We waited to see if the phenomenon would stop, but that did not happen, the heatwave continued, with the result that whatever production was left from 2021 died, and after a few days we saw that the mussel seeds we were planning to sell in 2022 also died." VARIOUS OF RUINED MUSSELS ON BOAT IN PILES FROM SEA FARMS, THE SHELLS EMPTY OF MUSSELS BECAUSE THEY BOILED AWAY DUE TO HIGH TEMPERATURES (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) MUSSELS FARMER STEFANOS SOUGIOULTZIS SAYING: "Twenty-five years, 26, in mussel farming, we did not expect this, we could not imagine this." VARIOUS OF MUSSEL FARMS UNDER THE SEA HANGING FROM A ROPE (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) MUSSELS FARMER STEFANOS SOUGIOULTZIS SAYING: "We don't have much hope. When people were saying 'what a nice warm sea we have', we were living through a nightmare, and are still living through it." MUSSEL FARMS IN THE SEA HANGING FROM ROPE UNDER THE WATER VARIOUS OF WHITE TUBE WORM COVERING THE MUSSEL FARMS HANGING IN THE SEA MUSSELS HANGING FROM ROPE IN SEA FARMERS ON BOAT GATHERING FARMS (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PRESIDENT OF LOCAL SHELLFISHISHING ASSOCIATION 'POSEIDON' KONSTANTINOS VERVITIS SAYING: "It is the first time I witness such a phenomenon. We don't even know how to handle it. There has never been this kind of damage in the Thermaic Gulf. Any damage we had in the past was manageable. This year it looks like climate change is here. The climate crisis is here, and you can see the result yourselves." VARIOUS DRONE VIEWS OF THE BUOYS FROM WHICH THE ROPES OF THE FISH FARMS ARE ATTACHED IN THE SEA VARIOUS OF BUOYS IN THE SEA (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY BASILE MICHAELIDES SAYING: "If this situation continues and it continues to worsen, then we will see extreme phenomena in the future. So it is irreversible, and irreversible if the right protection measures are not taken." VARIOUS DRONE AND GROUND VIEWS OF THE FISHERMEN'S AND MUSSEL FARMERS BOATS IN THE THERMAIC GULF (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PRESIDENT OF LOCAL SHELLFISHISHING ASSOCIATION 'POSEIDON' KONSTANTINOS VERVITIS SAYING: "We are forced to stay here and fight, that also depends on the state. We can't go anywhere else, all our life's efforts are here, we have to keep our jobs, whatever it takes." ATHENS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 16, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COOK COOKING MUSSELS IN TAVERN OF OWNER ELEFTHERIOS STOURAITIS COOK PUTTING MUSSELS ON A PLATE MUSSELS ON PLATE (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) TAVERN OWNER ELEFTHERIOS STOURAITIS SAYING: "My great grandfather would have never expected when he opened this tavern in 1947 that we would reach the point where we would be discussing a shortage in mussels. Climate change, which we were always hearing about on television, has also knocked on our door." COUPLE SEATED AT TABLE IN TAVERN EATING MUSSELS MUSSELS ON PLATE
- Embargoed: 1st October 2021 09:44
- Keywords: Greece climate change heat mussels sea temperatures
- Location: THERMAIC GULF AND ATHENS, GREECE
- City: THERMAIC GULF AND ATHENS, GREECE
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Environment,Europe,Temperature,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001EV3XRGN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Fisherman Stefanos Sougioultzis cracks open the mussels he cultivated in Greece's Aegean Sea only to find scores of empty shells. After a summer of scorching heat and warming waters, it was "as if they boiled in their own environment," he says.
"Twenty-five years in mussel farming, we did not expect - we could not imagine - this," Sougioultzis said aboard his boat in the Thermaic Gulf, Greece's main mussel producing region. Local authorities say about 50% of this year's production was destroyed as Greece faced its worst heatwave in decades. About 90% of the baby mussel seed that would grow into next year's production also died.
"When people were saying 'what a nice warm sea we have', we were living through a nightmare," Sougioultzis said.
He pulled from the sea clusters of mussels grown over the last 18 months, covered in a thick white mass one scientist identified as kind of tube worm, a marine worm that clings onto the mussels in high temperatures and gradually kills them.
"It is the first time I witness such a phenomenon," said Konstantinos Vervitis, president of the local shellfishing
association Poseidon, which represents about 90 mussel farming families, about a third of the region's producers.
"Any damage we had in the past was manageable. This year it looks like climate change is here. The climate crisis is here,"
he said.
Temperatures rose above 45 degrees Celsius in Greece in July and sea temperatures hit 28 degrees. In high temperatures, mussels suffer heat stress, said Basile Michaelides, professor of animal physiology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki whose expertise include the impact of global warming on marine life.
"If this situation continues and it continues to worsen, then we will see extreme phenomena in the future," he said.
Together with Italy, France and Spain, Greece is one of the world's main producers of the Mediterranean mussel, known for its high meat content, and it exports most of its production.
Greece produced about 23,000 tons of farmed mussels in 2020, according to official data, but suffered a hit as the coronavirus pandemic hurt tourism and demand from its main markets Italy and Spain, said Kostas Gioutikas, a regional deputy governor in charge of growth and environment.
"The gulf is in danger of having no mussel farmers in the coming years - a region that cultivates 85% of national production. Things are really very difficult," he said.
Vervitis said the government needed to urgently compensate the farmers for their losses because there was little else they could do.
"We are forced to stay here and fight," he said. "All our life's efforts are here."
Restaurants across Greece felt the pinch. Some tavernas took mussels off the menu in August because of short supply.
Eleftherios Stouraitis, serves up mussels in his fish tavern on Athens' coast. His great grandfather opened the tavern in 1947.
"My great grandfather would have never expected when he opened this tavern in 1947 that we would reach the point where we would be discussing a shortage in mussels. Climate change, which we were always hearing about on television, has also knocked on our door," he said.
(Production: Vassilis Triandafyllou, Deborah Kyvrikosaios, Stelios Missinas) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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