The extreme heat, caused by climate change, together with torrential rains, is putting the work of shellfish collectors in our country in check. For years, the Galician seabed, particularly in the Arousa estuaryare warning that the situation is beginning to be unsustainable in what used to be the richest estuary in shellfish in all of Galicia.
And if in 2021 losses were estimated at 10 million eurosthings are not looking good at all after the heat waves that we are experiencing throughout the country and that are especially affecting seafood from the Atlantic coast.
What exactly is happening?
According to experts, what happens is that extreme heat generates a decrease in oxygen in the water, and this causes the death of some species. And be careful because it is not an exclusive problem of the Galician coast, in the Mediterranean and in the Ebro Delta Three quarters of the same thing happens, hence the mussel farmers and shellfish collectors in these areas are calling for urgent measures.
This is confirmed by mussel farmers from the Ebro Delta area, who maintain that they have been seeing for some time that the majority of the mussels they collect are dead. And, of course, it is a fact that the temperature of the water is rising. You just have to see that before it was difficult to reach a maximum of 28 or 29 degrees, while now it is reaching 30.
Specifically, they are alarmingly scarce species such as the slimy clam, which is one of the most sought after. In this sense, it should be remembered that in 2021 158 tons were caught, while the average for the last 20 years stands at 547 tons, according to data collected by the Platform for Fishing Technology, dependent on the Consellería do Mar. And something similar happens with the cockle, which went from being the main species to almost disappearing from the estuary. In this case, last year 165 tons were collected, 77% less than the historical average.
In A Pobra do Caramiñal, in the Arousa estuary, in the middle of the Atlantic, there is another added concern, which has to do with torrential rains. And it is that these may end up dragging the ashes of the recent Boiro forest fire into the estuary. An episode that is not new for them, because they already experienced it in 2006, and that is one more example of the damage that climate change is causing.
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