Fishing closed in almost all of the Adriatic, at least until 5 September from Trieste to Bari, but perhaps in the stretch between the Marches and Puglia even until the end of the month. Why? It's called biological shutdown, i.e. a stop to fishing boats for a month (30 days), and until mid-October it will then progressively also be the turn of the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, with Sicily and Sardinia which will decide independently when to start the red light for boats.
The periodic stop has affected all the member countries of the European Union since 1985 and was rightly conceived to allow the restocking of fish species. A one-month sacrifice to allow Italian and European citizens to put high quality fish on the table for years to come. Will we have the foresight to accept it? Yes and no. And the reason is explained by Coldiretti, in favor of the blockade but less on the modalities: "The problem is that this measure has only worked for those species that have their reproductive peak in the summer period such as red mullet, tub gurnard and sole - explains Tonino Giardini , president of Impresa Pesca -. Scampi and oily fish, on the other hand, reproduce in other periods of the year, so it would be more useful to close off patchy areas, a bit like hunting”.
Another theme is: and which fish will end up on our tables in the coming weeks? In fact, the contraindication of the biological stoppage is the increase in imports from abroad, and all the consequent risks: already in 2015 Italy imported 769 million kilos, of which 40% from non-EU countries. Not to mention that, in the Mediterranean, while the Italian fleets stop, the Egyptian, Libyan, Turkish and Tunisian ones continue to work at full capacity, eroding market shares.
The scam in restaurants and supermarkets is therefore just around the corner. From Mekong pangasius sold as grouper to tusk fillet passed off as cod. From halibut and Senegalese lenguata marketed as sole to Vietnamese octopus priced as local. From porbeagle sharks sold as swordfish to icefish passed off as whitebait. From the red snapper served as pink snapper to the Turkish clams and the Chinese and Argentinian prawns. Or, worse, Vietnam, where antibiotic treatment strictly prohibited in Europe is allowed. And if markets and fishmongers have the obligation to make the origin of the products known, the same obligation does not apply to restaurants.
