"The blue crabs crossed the Atlantic as stowaways, and with no natural predators they’re overtaking Italy’s marine ecosystem."
"VENICE — Last summer, while sweating my way through the Rialto fish market, I spotted a familiar sight from my North Carolina upbringing: Atlantic blue crabs, labeled “granchio blu.” My Italian is not great, but I know gastronomy words and a blue crab when I see one.
As it turns out, the crabs had probably crossed the Atlantic as stowaways in the ballast water on barge ships, and they were first spotted in 2012 in Spain’s Ebro Delta on the Mediterranean Sea. The crab’s excessive increase is a direct result of climate-change-induced sea-level rise and extreme heat in the summer. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, female blue crabs produce up to 8 million eggs a year, and in Venice’s lagoon, they’ve became unstoppable, disrupting the ecology — and economy.
Just as tourists overcrowd hyped vacation destinations in Italy, the blue crabs have become an invasive species, particularly in the Veneto region because its bay hosts no known predators. The crabs prey on young clams, mussels and oysters, and have destroyed up to 90 percent of the area’s young clams, causing severe damage to future production. This invasion prompted the Italian government to allocate 2.9 million euros (about $3.2 million) to protect local fisheries from the crabs. The damage is extraordinary, not only to the marine ecosystem but to small fisherman families whose livelihood depends on providing local shellfish to markets and restaurants.
The invasion also stands to change the region’s culinary culture. “In Venetian cuisine, we have always been used to cooking various types of crabs,” says Denis Begiqi, head chef of Ristorante Adriatica inside Il Palazzo Experimental hotel in Venice. He mentions granseola (spider crab), “with which we make excellent pasta dishes,” and moeche, a tiny soft-shell crab caught in spring and October when the crabs are molting. The latter are fried for a classic Venetian preparation."
Jenn Rice reports for the Washington Post August 12, 2024.
Advertisement 
