Space Invaders: Solving the Invasive Species Explosion | National Geographic

Our ocean supports every living thing on the planet. And yet, climate change, overfishing, and pollution are threatening marine ecosystems everywhere. To protect them, we need to understand them. Invasive species are disrupting ecosystems across the Mediterranean Sea. For the communities that fish these waters, a centuries-old way of life is changing.

This lagoon in the Adriatic Sea is one of Italy's most important areas for aquaculture. The community here has fished for clams and mussels for generations. The sea is our life. For three to four generations, we have lived with the sea. I remember one day, my dad was fishing. I climbed out of the boat and I started feeling with my hands the clams on the seabed. I started screaming, "Dad! Dad! Come here, there are so many here!"

Most of the clams have been eaten by the crabs. Over the last few decades, Atlantic blue crabs have spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean Sea, carried in ballast waters or through the Suez Canal. Its numbers have exploded. Do you think that mussels, clams, and the blue crab can coexist in the same ecosystem? No. I don’t think so. Either the clams or the blue crabs.

We were among the first to start catching crabs because we saw that the selling price was good, but now we are seeing that they are destroying the marine fauna. Eight! How much have you lost? I want to say 90 percent, but maybe it’s even more. They have no predator. The only predator is man. If they have to substitute clams, we have to make them known not just here in Italy, but around the world.

We need to quickly understand how blue crabs are affecting Mediterranean ecosystems. One thing we can do is adapt our food culture here in Italy to create a market for them. I've been working here in Venissa for seven seasons. I like to source local products because it’s more ethical, but at the same time to tell something about the place where you cook.

I started working with the invasive species in 2019 when the fishermen brought here for the first time blue crabs. It's very tasty and very sweet. You can create a lot of preparations. Putting blue crab on our menu, it’s trying to influence other people to eat this species. We have to support our fishermen. We have to support our community. This is the first principle behind my job.

We can't eradicate invasive species like the Atlantic blue crabs in the Mediterranean. So we must learn to manage them through research and forward-thinking strategies that support marine ecosystems and communities. Fishing is all we have; it’s how we make a living. I will continue fishing. My grandfather fished eels, my dad started with mussels, and then with the clams. If we have to fish blue crabs, I will be ready.

Prada Group has strengthened its partnership with IOC/UNESCO to foster the SEA BEYOND initiative, donating one percent of profits from the Prada Re-Nylon collection to support educational programs dedicated to ocean conservation. SEA BEYOND promotes ocean literacy in schools around the world, including in Italy, where the Kindergarten of the Lagoon engages preschool kids through an outdoor educational program that reconnects them with the Venetian lagoon. This is because they, and children everywhere, are the future custodians of our seas.