Given the damage to Greek fisheries, the government is now offering subsidies to fishermen to undertake targeted sweeps to reduce the pufferfish numbers.
In recent years, fishermen in the southern Aegean, particularly from the islands of Crete and Rhodes, have demanded action as their catches shrank and their nets were damaged by the pufferfish’s sharp bites. But the invasive predator is now found in nearly all Greek waters, with increasingly frequent sightings. This year, the proliferation has expanded into the sea near Athens, creating a frenzy in the Greek media.
The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research estimates that pufferfish cost each fishing boat in the region €8,500 in damages and lost income annually.
“It’s an omnivorous fish that eats everything it encounters,” says Michalis Margaritis, fisheries officer at WWF Greece. “Octopus and clams are among its favorite foods.”
“Due to climate change and rising sea temperatures, they find fertile ground in which to settle. They have no natural predators, and they cannot be consumed by humans, so they multiply rapidly and spread.”
Michalis Karpodinis, a fisherman from Rhodes, said that until a few years ago “we used to fish at 40 to 45 meters, but now we have to go nearly 200 meters deep to find red mullet.”
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