Spanish fishermen in Galicia are reporting a “catastrophic” decline in clam and mussel populations, with stocks of some shellfish species falling by 90 per cent over several years.
The data published this month on a fishing website shows an alarming decline in the population of clams and shellfish, which are harvested by hand at low tide, as well as mussels, which are farmed on ropes strung on wooden rafts.
Galicia, a region in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, is Europe’s main source of shellfish and the world’s largest producer of mussels after China, which are grown in estuaries – river mouths that extend out to sea.
Galicia’s mollusc harvest in 2023 was down 80 per cent on the previous year and some mollusc species were down 78 per cent. Mussel production in 2024 was the lowest in a quarter of a century, from 250,000 tonnes in 2021 to 178,000 tonnes last year.
Maria del Carmen Besada Meis, who heads the San Martiño fishermen’s association in Ria de Arosa, one of the main sources of shellfish in the region, believes climate change is to blame, partly due to recent heavy rains that have reduced the salinity of the water. Rainfall over the past two years has been well above average. The expert said:
“But we don’t have enough concrete evidence and we would like someone to come in and do a proper study so we know what’s behind it and what we can do about it.”
However, another factor triggering the decline in shellfish and mussel stocks could be pollution. According to the Galician Water Company, waste is dumped into the sea more than 2,000 times a year, 10 per cent of which exceeds the permissible toxicity standards.
