The Adriatic is boiling over Italian fishermen fight for survival

Italian fishermen are finding it difficult to adapt to the warm sea and the new species of fish that have arrived. In addition, algae slime is making life difficult for them.

On several days in July, the sea temperature along the Italian Adriatic coast, which stretches from Trieste in the north to Capo d'Otranto in the south, reached record levels of 30 °C and even slightly exceeded this value in some areas.

"The water feels very hot, almost like a bath," Daniele Montini, a local from the coastal town of Fano, told theGuardian. A lot has changed in 50 years. "I remember when the sea was much more undulating, now it's mostly flat." And his wife Alfreda adds: "The amount of fish has also changed and the species, some no longer exist."

This is due to the rise in water temperatures. The Adriatic is becoming tropical. Fish species are migrating that did not previously exist there, such as swordfish, while various species of white fish, such as turbot, are almost extinct. Fishermen have to adapt.

Tropical water temperatures produce "sea snot"

In addition, the warm water temperatures and weak currents have contributed to "sea snot" covering the sea surface this summer, especially in the northern and central areas of the Adriatic - a thick, slimy, white-yellow substance made up of various microalgae that have proliferated explosively in the warmer temperatures.

The last time the phenomenon was relatively widespread was in 1989, particularly in the waters off the coastal towns of the Emilia-Romagna region, which caused beachgoers to flee and caused problems for fishermen - and is now once again threatening their livelihoods.

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While most fish species can escape the slime, shellfish such as mussels run the risk of suffocating. In addition, the mucillagine, as the event is called in Italian, clogs the propellers of the fishing boats and blocks the fishing nets.

When this happens, it is "impossible to fish", explains Alessandro Ciavaglia to the British daily newspaper. He has been working as a fisherman on the Adriatic for 40 years. He says he has never experienced such high sea temperatures and so much slime. "We're talking 30 degrees, even out in the open sea.".

Fishermen couldn't work for a month

Ciavaglia is making ends meet, but smaller independent fishermen further up the coast, for example in Pesaro or in neighboring Cattolica in Emilia-Romagna, are faring much worse. Anna Franchini, who represents a cooperative for small-scale fishermen, tells the Guardian: "The fishermen here haven't been able to work for a month. There is a lot of anger, partly because of the high costs and the escalating bureaucracy that people have to deal with."

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Fishing associations in the worst-affected regions, including Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Abruzzo, have called on the government to declare a state of emergency so that measures can be implemented quickly to help fishermen survive.

The Adriatic Sea - part of the Mediterranean - and the seas around Sicily are Italy's largest fish producers. And the sea has not even reached its maximum temperature yet, which normally only occurs around mid-August.