Italian shellfish farming “requires urgent and extraordinary interventions. In Italy, the sector is affected by a widespread die-off of mussels, clams and other bivalve molluscs, caused by the exceptional temperatures recorded in this early part of the summer,” says Anna Maria Cisint, a Lega MEP, announcing an urgent question to the European Commission.

In July, she recalls, sea water temperatures reached 32°C, causing widespread anoxia and the consequent death of molluscs. Very large losses occurred particularly in the Upper Adriatic area and in Sardinia. To date, producers have estimated a loss of 1,000 quintals of PDO mussels in the Sacca degli Scardovari, in the province of Rovigo, and a 90% loss of the clams farmed in the Goro lagoon.

“Similar phenomena,” she continues, “also occurred in the Gulf of Trieste, an area renowned for mussel farming. According to trade associations, the damage to the national sector would amount to 200 million euros. Consequently, I have asked the Commission whether it intends to support the Italian shellfish farming sector, severely affected by this year’s climate anomalies, with urgent and exceptional measures,” Cisint concludes. The question was co-signed by Paolo Borchia, head of the Lega delegation to the European Parliament.