Italy starts exporting a delicacy prized abroad, reviled at home

Italian fishermen for two years incinerated most of the invasive Atlantic blue crabs caught in the Po River Delta south of Venice. Few Italians had an appetite for the alien predator blamed for decimating their prized Manila clams.

While experiments in containment continue, including the release of tens of thousands of octopus predators, the industry’s response has been shifting to find new markets for the crustaceans. The strategy is already salvaging the livelihood of some fishermen and, some hope, may even rehabilitate the much-maligned crab’s image in Italy.

Fishermen pivot to salvage livelihoods

Like other members of his local cooperative, second-generation fisherman Federico Zago saw his income crash after the crab invasion. The Polesine Fishermen’s Cooperative Consortium’s revenues fell 75 per cent to 15 million euros ($17 million) in 2024 and 2025; the co-operatives active members also shrank from 1,500 to 850.

“We needed to change strategy, and create an opportunity from this disaster,” said Paolo Mancin, the cooperative’s president.

Desperate, they pivoted to exporting the unwanted crabs, with the aim of preserving the Manila clams—invasive themselves—and mussels that created decades of prosperity in the shallow lagoons of Veneto and Emilia Romagna.

Zago now pulls up cages full of crabs from his traditional fishing cabin built on stilts over the Scardovari lagoon in the Veneto region. And the consortium’s strategy is working; so far this year it has sold every crab it has caught, eliminating the need for incineration. It forecasts 20 million euros ($23 million) in revenue this year, most from sales of crab.

“Since we’re going to have to live with these crabs, I hope they become an opportunity,” said Zago. “I hope the market continues to grow.”

Climate change creates perfect conditions for invasive crab

The Atlantic blue crab has been present in the Adriatic Sea since at least the 1940s, arriving in ballast water from commercial vessels, according to Piero Genovesi, an invasive species expert at Italy’s environmental protection institute.

Their numbers remained contained until 2023, and local fishermen reported catching them only sporadically.

Then came the explosion. Crabs tore through fishing nets, devoured mollusks at an alarming rate and edged out the native green crab, a local soft-shell specialty.

Climate change played a key role. Higher water temperatures favour blue crabs’ reproduction, but the real trigger was likely drought-driven drops in the Po River’s levels. That allowed sea water to infiltrate freshwater tributaries across the peninsula, especially in lagoons and deltas where clam and mussel farms provided ample prey.

“Climate change may therefore have favoured reproduction through both temperature and salinity, because it changed the salinity of the water,’’ Genovesi said.

Eradication programme failed

Reeling from damage to the mollusk industry, the Italian government adopted a blue crab eradication program in 2024. Over two years, the government paid the Polesine to catch and incinerate nearly 2.3 million kilograms (five million pounds) of crabs. Fishermen in the neighbouring Sacca di Goro lagoon and the Orbetello lagoon in Tuscany did the same.

But with female crabs able to produce up to eight million eggs every season, culling barely dented their numbers. The project has been shelved, said Enrico Caterino, the government’s extraordinary commissioner for the blue crab emergency.

University of Bologna scientists this summer released 150,000 baby octopuses into the Adriatic Sea on the Riviera Romagnola, some two hours south of the Po Delta, promoting their project with an impressive video showing an adult octopus grabbing and devouring a crab.

Most octopus babies aren’t expected to survive. And given their preference for rocky environments over sandy lagoons and the crabs’ reproductive prowess, fishermen and experts alike are skeptical.

“If an animal with such high reproductive potential finds suitable environmental conditions, predators may not be able to keep it under control,” Genovesi said.

Each morning, Italian fishermen unload crates of scuttling crabs from the backs of their cars and trucks, 100-150 kilograms (up to 330 pounds) at a time.

Crab sales may be keeping the fishermen afloat, but their earnings remain nowhere near those of the clam industry’s heyday. Crab fetches just 1.30 euros per kilogram, compared with ten euros for clams, which once generated 90 per cent of their income but now account for just ten per cent.