Pesaria fishpond, grills in pieces and the fish take to the open sea

The disaster has begun. The holes in the grids have now reached ten centimeters and the juveniles, but also the adult fish ready to be put on the market, are starting to head towards the sea. For the fishermen of Santa Giusta, the beginning of a real drama.

In the Pesaria fish market, where in 2023, thanks to one million euros financed by the Region as part of the Territorial Planning, the renovation works that the fishermen had been waiting for for 30 years were carried out, the steel grids that were supposed to serve as a barrier not only wore out right away, they are now literally wearing out. “What we feared is happening,” vents Emanuele Cossu, president of the Fishing Consortium that manages the lagoon. “We are losing everything. We have been asking for months for an intervention to resolve this problem caused by who knows who. All this is absurd, it is serious. The intervention should have increased the quantity of fish and therefore the income, instead we risk being left without a penny. We must not forget that public money was spent, and that there are 150 damaged grids that need to be thrown away.”

In the meantime, since yesterday, the fishermen of Santa Giusta have been trying to save what they can: "We are removing the grids from the water to plug the largest holes with plastic - explains Cossu - But it is not an easy job. To fix just 5 of them, there were many of us and it took us a morning".