Veneto in northern Italy has declared
war on blue crabs, which are reportedly wrecking havoc on the
local clam population in the Po delta area.
Veneto governor Luca Zaia showed reporters two live specimens
during a press conference on Wednesday, claiming that the
crustaceans "break everything and cause disasters".
326 tonnes of the aggressive invading species, originally from
the western Atlantic, have already been harvested in Veneto this
year, including 84 tonnes in Scardovari (Rovigo) and 29 tonnes
in Pila just in August.
"The region has earmarked 80,000 euros for initial studies,"
said Zaia, adding that the government has also allocated "a good
3 million euros" to combat the invasion.
"We declared a state of emergency on 24 July and have requested
a national state of emergency," he continued.
Zaia also announced that from Thursday the regional
environmental agency Arpav and Veneto Agricoltura would begin
setting 300 traps in order to monitor the distribution and
spread of the blue crab population.
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