(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - The heat wave baking much of Italy
this summer has spawned a "massacre" of clams, mussels, eels,
seabream and mullet due to high water temperature, agriculture
group Coldiretti said Wednesday.
Seawater temperature has risen to as much as 35 degrees
Celsius in some parts of the peninsula, leading to fermentation
of seaweed that deprives the water of oxygen, causing the deaths
of fish and shellfish, with losses of as much as 40% in some
fish farms, said the group.
The problem is especially acute in lagoon areas, from
Emilia Romagna to the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia down to
Tuscany, where fishing and acquaculture businesses are
developed, Coldiretta ImpresaPesca said.
It added that hundreds of firms' survival is in jeopardy as
a result.
Coldiretti added that inland farmers have lost an estimated
200 million euros because of the heat wave, largely through
impact on animals such as cows that are producing between 10 and
15% less milk nationally.
Italy's heatwave spawns catastrophic losses for fishermen
Lagoon areas particularly hard hit as fish denied oxygen