Blue crabs, the one million euro tender is coming to dispose of the unsold ones

Companies will be able to submit applications for contributions for costs incurred for transport and disposal

BOLOGNA – Not all blue crab specimens collected in these months can be sold: in fact, a part of these animals, which are causing great difficulty for the activities of the Ferrara area, it is not suitable and must be disposed of.For this reason the Region has approved a new tender, from one million euros, aimed at companies holding state concessions for shellfish farming plants:they will then have the opportunity to present applications for contributions for the costs incurred for the transport and disposal of non-marketed blue crab.“Another million euros available to fishing and aquaculture companies for the disposal of blue crab”, underlines Alessio Mammi, regional councilor for Agriculture and Fisheries.

READ ALSO: Veneto challenges the blue crab and 'seeds' the true clams:this is how they will return to the lagoons

This is a measure budgeted "to guarantee additional resources to companies and support their profitability, which has suffered a serious blow especially with regards to the production of clams in the Goro pocket and in the Comacchio adductor canals.With this provision - continues the councilor - we will recognize contributions for disposal, which add to the million euros allocated during 2023 as compensation for lost production. We are trying to do everything possible - concludes Mammi - to support the companies affected by this phenomenon:we will not leave them alone, waiting for the activation of a national strategy that we have been asking for since the beginning of this emergency".

The resources in the field, as the Region always explains, are equivalent to 1.50 euros per kilogram of product to be disposed of. A figure which includes as a flat rate the costs incurred for the transport, handling, on land and at sea, of the crab specimens, the charges and costs incurred for disposal in landfill or in authorized disposal centres, as well as the administrative costs for the management and organization of transport and disposal operations.Meanwhile, they have been the authorizations for the capture and sale of blue crab have been extended until July 31, 2025, a very prolific species, which "continues to reproduce rapidly and uncontrollably, heavily impacting the entire marine and coastal habitat and economic activities".