Mussel farmer Yiannis Zakalkas, 30, holds a long line with mussels at a farm in the Thermaic Gulf, near Thessaloniki, Greece, October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis
THERMAIC GULF, Greece (Reuters) - When Anastasios Zakalkas pulled up the ropes of his mussel farm in the Aegean Sea last month, the devastation was clear: the lines were not heaving with molluscs as they should be at harvest time but were instead filled with cracked, empty shells.
It is the second time in three years that record sea temperatures have hit the mussel harvest in northern Greece, where farmers said they saw a 90% drop in the 2024 catch. Next year will be a dud too, Zakalkas said, because all the seed for the coming season also perished.
