WATCH | HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DEAD FISH BLANKET GREEK TOURIST PORT

Fri 30 August 2024:

A once-popular tourist port in Greece has been overwhelmed by the remains of hundreds of thousands of dead fish, creating a silvery, foul-smelling blanket over the waters of Volos. The fish, displaced from their freshwater habitats by last year’s catastrophic floods, began washing up in the port this week.

Local residents and authorities quickly mobilized to clear the dead fish from the port before the stench could permeate nearby hotels and restaurants. By Wednesday, trawlers had collected over 40 tonnes of fish, which were then loaded onto trucks for disposal.

Greece tourist port flooded with hundreds of thousands of dead fish

In Volos, Greece, over 100 tons of dead fish have been collected following a mass die-off, which authorities attribute to extreme climate conditions. The fish are believed to have been pushed downstream from… pic.twitter.com/QEN7lQGSzE

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) August 30, 2024

Mayor Blames Government for Environmental Crisis

Volos Mayor Achilleas Beos expressed frustration at the government’s failure to address the issue before it reached such a critical point, calling the stench “unbearable” and warning of potential environmental threats to other species. He criticized authorities for not placing protective nets at the mouth of the river, which could have prevented the fish from entering the saltwater of the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea, where they ultimately perished.

Experts have traced the origins of this environmental disaster to last year’s historic floods in the Thessaly Plain, which refilled a long-drained lake, causing it to swell to three times its normal size. As the water receded, it pushed the fish toward Volos, where they were doomed by the transition from freshwater to saltwater. Scientists have attributed the extreme weather in Greece—including the floods and subsequent wildfires—to the broader impacts of climate change.

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Tourism Devastated: Business Owners Suffer as Tourist Season Collapses

Local business owners, already reeling from the impact of last year’s floods, are now facing even greater challenges. Dimosthenis Bakoyiannis, a beach restaurant owner near Volos, reported an 80% drop in turnover this season, lamenting that it’s too late to salvage the tourist season. “Closing the barrier now doesn’t help,” he said.

Stefanos Stefanou, president of the local association of restaurants and bars, expressed deep concern for the future, stating, “This dead fish situation will be the death of us. What visitor will come to our city after this?”

As the environmental crisis continues to unfold, the Greek environment ministry has yet to comment on the situation, though local prosecutors have launched an investigation.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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