L’invasion ofL blue crab in our seas, which is bringing Italian fishermen to their knees, has pushed the government to take action.
“This morning we have signed two decrees which will allow intervention For help fishing entrepreneurs that they were hit by a real calamity: the blue crab, an emergency that he put them in a condition of sufferingstill underway, in the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna regions”, he announced The Minister of Agriculture and Food sovereignty Francesco Lollobrigidaon the sidelines of the press conference for the new edition of Cibus.
“With these decrees, fishermen will have the extension of mortgage payments for up to 24 months, partial exemption from the payment of social security and welfare contributions for themselves and for employees, as well as access to subsidized financing with a fund that will intervene to support them All this alongside another series of interventions that we had made to begin to repair the damage caused by a fluctuation in the abundance of a crab that had been present for some time and that no one had studied enough”, the minister said again.
The recognition of aid to the fishing sector was possible thanks to the regulatory change, strongly supported by the Meloni governmentThat extended the application of the Fund of national solidarity provided for by legislative decree n.102/2004, previously used only for the agricultural sector, to fishing and aquaculture.
“We have always considered our fishermen the farmers of the sea. For this reason we wanted to put an end to unequal treatment compared to farmers. Thanks to this fundamental regulatory review today, for the first time in our nation, it was possible to declare the of exceptional nature of an event which has heavily affected the fishing and aquaculture sector due to the spread of the blue crab species”, underlined Lollobrigida.
“A turning point for fishing and a great victory for the Meloni Government and for all Italian fishermen who protect our sea and guarantee quality”, he added, explaining that “thanks to these decrees, the companies of Veneto and Emilia- Romagna will be able to benefit from the compensatory interventions”.
Beyond the funds made available for refreshments, to stem the damage of the Blue Crab you need to insist for ‘transform it’, encourage its consumption and make it ‘income’. It goes transformed from a scourge to an “opportunity”.
With the inclusion of the blue crab “in the list of names of fish species of commercial interest, the valorisation of the product which will then have to be developed through a commercial strategy aimed at creating a real consumer supply chain”, he said explained the Undersecretary for Agriculture Luigi D’Eramo.
Among the many anti-Crab strategies, “there is a plan to undertakevalid on Feampa 2021-2027 (European Maritime Affairs Fund for Fisheries and Aquaculture), actions for the financing of projects studying the biology of the species, aimed not only at contrasting the crustacean, but also at creating a blue crab supply chain For his food use (supplements and feed for aquaculture) and for marketing and promotion towards the consumer”, underlines the undersecretary.
Feampa “supports the marketing of fishery and aquaculture products by helping to create producer organizations and implement their production and marketing plans; create new market outlets; promote traceability and consumer information; add value to products ; as well as disseminate market information throughout the supply chain”.