A new study has revealed the damage that is being done to the underwater ecosystems of Greece due to illegal fishing.
Conducted by the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, at least 80 per cent of Greece’s seafood restaurants were found to either serve or allow customers to place orders for protected species, reports Kathimerini.
Considered culinary delicacies, seafood on offer included the likes of date mussels, fan mussels and Triton’s trumpets. The restaurants were also found to be serving up fish and prawns that have yet to reach maturity. While more than 100 businesses were found to offer delivery of the species direct to the consumer’s home.
“Unbeknown to them, of course, we surveyed 70 well-known restaurants. Unfortunately we didn’t have to go to any great lengths to confirm our fears,” said the Institute’s head of research, Anastasia Miliou.
“Most have such species on their menu and even advertise the fact online, boasting, for example, of their steamed date mussels with truffle oil. With the others, it was just a matter of a simple phone call.”
While a few of the businesses took down their online advertisements after the study came to light, Miliou says this doesn’t put an end to illegal fishing by any means, and the impact it is having on the environment.
There are a number of endangered species in Greece’s waters, but with aggressive fishing techniques destroying the breeding ground of sealife that can take over 50 years to reach a size suitable for consumption, things are not looking good.
“This destroys future generations and the onus lies with the consumer as much as the fishermen and the restaurateur,” said Miliou.