strange image from Kotychi lagoon in the municipality of Andravidas-Killini, was published in the previous days through the newspaper “Patris”.

In photographs published by the newspaper, thousands of dead blue crabs can be seen washed up on the shores of the lagoon, while other dead ones swim in the swampy water. It is noted that this area is part of the Strofilia National Wetland Park, which is protected by the Ramsar Convention and national, European and international legislation.

“A month ago, a storm dangerously raised the level of the lagoon,” describes in “K” Vasilis Seretis, president of the Kotychi S.A. fishing cooperative, engaged in the production of fish that abound in the lagoon (eels, sea bass, bream, mullet, etc.). He then explains that when the fishermen were faced with a water spill, they were forced – since there are no infrastructure projects – to open the ditch themselves so that the water could escape to the sea.

Taking advantage of this unrest, amateur fishermen appeared and began to fish with nets. However, in addition to fish, they also caught blue crabs. But since they did not have the know-how to use them commercially, the latter threw them away and left them on the shore of the lagoon, and the unpleasant smell made the atmosphere suffocating in this place. In fact, according to the “K” report, the crabs have been rotting on the site for many days.

The problem of the level of the lagoon is eternal

Overflowing the lagoon level, according to Mr. Seretis and the president of the local community Lechainos Dionysus Panagiotaros, is a constant problem. In fact, this has been observed for more than a decade.

As both explain, the protective sandy island between the sea and the lagoon has been subjected to dangerous and constant erosion in recent years.

“Extreme weather events, which are increasingly affecting western Greece, have turned an already narrow strip into a ‘string of land’,” notes Mr Seretis, stressing that, in addition, the water level in the lagoon also “threatened” are many of the waters of the Vuprasiya Plain, which end at this point, as well as part of the Verga River that flows through the area.

For some reason, the Kotychi lagoon, which once covered an area of ​​13,500 acres, today does not exceed 6,000. According to Mr. Seretis, the issue of water quality does not arise, since the team of the University of Patras analyzes the water of the lagoon once a month. According to him, these analyzes never showed a problem. “Protecting the perimeter of the lagoon is a big problem, but infrastructure projects have dragged on for decades,” he stresses.

How blue crabs affect swamps

However, according to biologists-ichthyologists, blue crabs are not only “innocent”. With the ability to easily move over long sea distances, today they have managed to “conquer” many areas of the Mediterranean.

This species seems to have invaded our region in the late 1930s, how this happened is still unclear, but it appears that blue crabs were brought first to Egypt and then to other places in the Eastern Mediterranean in ship ballast. Since then, they have become one of the most problematic and invasive species in Europe. In our country, callinectes sapidus (like their scientific name) appeared in the 1950s, but soon disappeared and returned abruptly ten years ago.

OUR Manos Kutrakis, research director IN.ALE (Institute for Fisheries Research) ELGO DIMITRA, notes in an interview with “K” that in the Greek lagoons, especially in northern and western Greece, blue crabs have found an ideal breeding environment for themselves and “grow from breakneck speed.”

In turn, the biologist-ichthyologist ELKETHE (Greek Center for Marine Research), Friday Karaleparticipated three years ago in a European research project to assess the risk of uncontrolled breeding of blue crabs in the Mediterranean, speaks of a species that has the ability to disrupt the biological balance of the systems in which it lives, first creating food competition – mainly with waterfowl and birds.

In fact, in winter, lagoons and other wetlands are home to a large number of migratory birds, from egrets, phoenixes and wild swans to many other birds whose food is the same as that of blue crabs.

Among the many aggressive movements of the latter – from tearing the nets of fishermen, to attacking and eating the fish with which they get along, it is worth highlighting they uproot precious posidoniums from the seabed, as well as other types of marine vegetation. According to Ms Carale, blue crabs are also very good at hiding.

A typical case is in the Antinioti lagoon in the north of Corfu, where crabs from time to time create serious problems for the fauna and flora of the area. The lagoon in question is a Natura 2000 protected area, as are Korissia, Alikon Lefkimmi and Halkiopoulos lagoons, all of which have breeding host species.

For this reason, in recent years, the Ionian Islands Region, in collaboration with the University of Salento in southern Italy, has used European programs to study the problem closely and propose solutions.

“The lagoons can only be saved by their intensive fishing”

Mr. Koutrakis notes that the most immediate and best solution to control the species is to hunt it intensively and therefore introduce it into Greek culinary culture, as it does all along the American Atlantic coast.

As he explains: “In our country, both fishermen and consumers fear blue crabs, as they have to be cooked alive. It is not common for the Greeks to bring living beings into the kitchen with tongs. The claws of these crabs require attention, they can seriously injure. And yet, the only solution to managing their threat to the Greek wetlands is to constantly catch them to reduce and control their population.”

It should be noted that luxury meze, as is customary in many foreign countries, is sold for no less than 20 dollars per kilogram, while in our country the maximum price sought by fishermen is 5 euros per kilogram.

Mr. Seretis says that for the last four years in the Kotihi lagoon, traders from Messolonga, in cooperation with the cooperative Kotihi S.A. fished for blue crabs. “Every year their collection through special traps placed on the seabed increases. Last year, 25 tons of blue crabs were caught, which ended up in Italy and Portugal. Despite this, their selling price was only one euro per kilogram.”