The Sardinia Region is ready to launch support measures in favor of fishermen damaged by the proliferation of blue crabs in the island's lagoons.
This was said by Agriculture Councilor Valeria Satta who spoke yesterday, with her Environment colleague Marco Porcu, at the joint session of the "Productive Activities" and "Territorial Government" commissions of the Regional Council.
«The Region will move in concert with the Government which has just finalized the draft of the decree law which will allocate approximately 13 million euros to the fishing sector. To the 2.9 million already allocated for the mass capture and disposal of crabs, another 10 million are added for the purchase of equipment to protect shellfish farming plants from crabs and tools for containment of the invasive species. Funds are also provided for the reconstitution of damaged businesses." Resources which, however, do not provide compensation for the damage suffered by fishermen in recent months.
«The blue crab has become a real plague – said Giacomo Contu and Francesco Pichereddu of the “Il Risveglio” cooperative in Orosei – there is nothing left in our lagoons. The crabs ate everything: sea bream, sea bass, mussels, clams, oysters. Even our equipment is now useless." Damages that must be immediately compensated , according to trade associations, to allow fishermen's cooperatives to move forward.
The funds for disposal and containment of the emergency are not enough to help workers, compensation for damages must be provided . All the fishermen's representatives asked for it: Paolo Ninniri (Copagri), Mauro Steri (Lega Coop) and Luigi Carmelo Pisu (Agci).
«The Government's measures are good but they are made for the Veneto and Lombardy where the cooperatives have already disposed of industrial quantities of crabs and can issue invoices to be reimbursed. In Sardinia the situation is different – said Mauro Steri – there is no disposal activity. Anyone who suffered damage must be compensated ." Hypothesis on which the presidents of the Commissions Piero Maieli and Giuseppe Talanas agreed.
In the next few days, an amendment will be developed with the department's technicians to be included in one of the next financial provisions.
On the research front, Professor Marco Casu of the Veterinary Faculty of Sassari suggested a study on the methods of settlement and reproduction of the crab which would allow for the development of valid containment actions: «Eradicating the species is impossible – underlined Casu – blue crabs eat everything they find and when the biological vacuum is created they eat each other. An adult female lays up to two million eggs, this data is enough to understand the problem we are facing."
(Unioneonline/vl)