Now it's a real one environmental catastrophe: in a few years the Blue Crab, scientific name Callinectes sapidus, non-native species, native to the east coast of the United States, arrived here in the 50s, has proliferated exponentially due to climate change and warming of the waters that have made our environments more suitable for its survival . In recent times it has become in fact, a species highly invasive which is destroying the fragile ecosystem of lagoons and rivers, exterminating clams, mussels, eggs, other fish and molluscs, devastating la marine biodiversity but also damaging the fishing nets themselves.
The damage that the fishermen are detecting does not only concern the massacre of the fish stock but also that of the equipment. In fact, this species destroys small-sized nets and traps with its strong and sharp claws.
A killer who acts almost everywhere
The alarm was raised by the fish operators of Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Tuscany who ask urgent measures to eradicate these "sea wild boars" from ponds and lagoons in Goro, Scardovari and Orbetello who report losses of 100 euros a day to dispose of the blue crabs captured by fishermen to save their production. But even from the Circeo lagoons there are serious damages to farms.
I'm over the 50% le Prevention register of the production of clams and mussels, denounces Fedagripesca, but the blue crab also eats juveniles, and this puts sales for the next few years at risk. There are several solutions on the table to try to limit the presence of blue crabs, starting with the creation of a real supply chain, and therefore from fishing to transformation into feed, up to consumption on restaurant tables. Among the hypotheses under consideration is also a biological fight, adapting in the sea what has been done on land in orchards with samurai wasps to counteract the Asian bug.
To understand the extent of the phenomenon, just think that this crustacean reproduces exponentially: the number of eggs is between 700 and two million and 100 depending on the size of the females. This makes us understand how in a short time, the blue crab has invaded the entire northern Italian Adriatic.
The invasion of the blue crab in Veneto: 50 tons collected in one day
The heaviest damage is recorded in Veneto. On Wednesday alone last week, around fifty tons of this killer of the seas were collected, which prompted the Governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, to request a national state of emergency. “We are very worried. The data is disturbing, those relating to the collection in 2019 in our lagoon was eighty-seven kilos. In 2022 we caught ten thousand. Our lagoon becomes an incubator for an explosive bomb. I have the impression that we still haven't got an idea of the extent of this catastrophe”.
The government has already prepared the first measures. But the fight against the blue crab cannot be only political and administrative, it must realistically also involve citizens who can make their contribution by bringing the blue crab to their tables. The first contribution came from the world of catering which has included dishes made with the fearsome crustacean in its menus, the meat of which is however quite tasty and appreciated.
Blue crab: chef Scarello brings it to the table
Emmanuel Scarello chef 2 Michelin stars conquered over time, at the helm of the gourmet restaurant "Agli Amici Dopolavoro" since April this year, in a furnished 20s building annexed to the prestigious JW Marriott Venice Resort Spa on the small Isola delle Rose, in the Venetian lagoon, not since today has he professed in the kitchen a philosophy of knowledge and traditions that value native products and at the same time of religious attention to the work of man, to the historical stratifications of the territory, but above all to respect for the eco-environment. Philosophy that in practice manages to give a unique and personal character to its cuisine, made of local ingredients and contemporary taste.
Scarello was among the first chefs to believe in the need to embrace this responsible cause.
But it must also enter family kitchens
And it could not be otherwise due to its nature and culture. “The theme of the blue crab in our lagoons and in our seas – he declares – is very delicate, as it has strictly to do with the protection of biodiversity. Today the fact of including it in the kitchen is indicated as a strategy to favor its fishing, and therefore the control of its diffusion. As for Agli Amici and its outlets, we will include a dish based on blue crab in the autumn menus. The market is starting to offer it, and particular attention can be paid to the use of blue crab moeche. But if there is to be a real increase in fishing, blue crab needs to enter family kitchens and home menus. The blue crab is a swimmer crab, so it won't have much flavor in the claws, unlike for example our "poro lunch" which, being motionless on the rocks waiting for the prey, will have much more meat in the claws".
A choice that once again links the chef to the territory. THE menu that the chef has built ad hoc since the first moment of taking office in the kitchens of the JW Marriott Venice Resort Spa are an exaltation of the characteristics of Venice, a city of the sea and lagoon and a symbol of sustainable tourism and development, and on the peculiarities of the Isola delle Rose, which thanks to its strategic position between the lagoon and the sea and to the breezes that generate a mild and beneficial climate, boasts a variety of plants that cannot be found anywhere else in Venice. And if the earth offers him the products of an olive grove and a vegetable garden that serves as a precious resource for cooking with artichokes, asparagus, carletti (the Friulian sclopit) and bruscandoli, the lagoon offers him a raw material that is chosen following the seasonality such as sole, prawns, cuttlefish, moleca, and strictly non-farmed fish, seamlessly amalgamating a sea and land environment from strongly identifying flavour.
And this identity, like it or not, now also includes the Blue Crab, whose flavor recalls that of lobster. An opportunity that Emanuele Scarello knows how to seize to the point of including the blue crab in the fine dining cuisine of Agli Amici dopolavoro.
The recipe, how to cook it
“In the blue crab – he underlines – the part to be used is that of the head. I quickly plunge it into boiling water and then immediately plunge it into ice. With a sharp blow I detach the whole swimming apparatus, the legs, which I will throw back into the water if possible as pasture for our sea bream and the lagoon fish. I then hold the head, with scissors I cut the outline, being careful to keep the coral, which is the noble part of this fish. It is possible to make a simple spaghetti with fresh coral, or a summer bruschetta that would be very tasty, in which to put a spoonful of coral and its juices, a lemon zest, two drops of oil on the bread.”
To Friends After Work
JW Marriott Venice Resort Spa
Sacca Sessola Lagoon of Venice Island of Roses
30133 Venice VE
