The Blue Crab Crisis in Italy

A Threat to Tradition, a Call to Action

💥💥and💥💥

Celebrating 250 Episodes of the Flavor of Italy Podcast!

Before we dive into one of the most urgent environmental and culinary issues affecting Italy today, I want to take a moment to celebrate something close to my heart: this is the 250th episode of the Flavor of Italy podcast! That’s 250 episodes dedicated to exploring Italian food, wine, culture, and the incredible people behind it all. If you’ve been listening since the beginning or have just recently joined the Flavor of Italy community, thank you.

This podcast has been a labor of love for many years, and reaching this milestone wouldn’t have been possible without you. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a glowing review, and sharing it with your friends and family. Your support helps the podcast grow and keeps these important conversations going.

And now, on to a story that touches every Italian kitchen, dining table, and coastal lagoon: the growing crisis of the North American blue crab invasion.

Meet Elisabetta Zavoli: Documenting the Blue Crab Invasion in Italy

For this special 250th episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Elisabetta Zavoli, an award-winning documentary photographer from Rimini whose investigative work blends science and photojournalism. Elisabetta holds degrees in Environmental Sciences and Chemistry for Waste Management, and she later earned a master’s in photojournalism. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, and more.

Her latest investigation focuses on a quiet but devastating ecological catastrophe: the spread of the North American blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) throughout the Adriatic Sea and beyond.

The Delicious Italian Clam is Disappearing – Fast

Italy’s beloved vongole veraci are under siege. The delicate clams at the heart of iconic dishes like spaghetti alle vongole have seen their population decimated by as much as 90% since 2023 by blue crabs in Italy. The epicenter of this crisis is the Po River Delta, which once supplied more than half of Italy’s clam production and 40% of Europe’s.

The culprit? The aggressive blue crab, a voracious predator introduced to Mediterranean waters through global shipping, specifically ballast water discharged from cargo ships. Once here, the crab found a perfect environment, with no natural predators and a warming climate encouraging its spread.

Why Isn’t This Being Stopped at the Source?

The solution to the crab's introduction seems deceptively simple: clean the ballast water before it’s released. Treatments like UV or chlorine sterilization are common and relatively easy to install on ships. In fact, a global regulation exists: the Ballast Water Management Convention. But implementation is inconsistent.

Italy only ratified the treaty in late 2023 – too late to prevent the blue crab boom. The United States, ironically the crab's country of origin, still hasn’t signed the treaty. So U.S. ships have no legal obligation to treat their ballast water before arriving in foreign ports. Only now, if they arrive in countries like Italy that have signed the treaty, are they required to treat the water before discharge.

The Clams May Never Fully Return

Can the damage be undone? Sadly, according to Elisabetta, complete eradication of an invasive marine species like the blue crab in Italy is virtually impossible. They’re here to stay. Making matters worse, their natural predators — such as the European eel — are in decline due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution.

Farmers are trying to protect clams using labor-intensive methods like covering the seabed with special protective nets. But these require constant maintenance and risk depriving the seabed of oxygen and nutrients. Clam farming, once a cornerstone of coastal economies, is now a far more expensive and uncertain endeavor.

And here’s an ironic twist: the clams most commonly farmed in Italy today are not native either. They’re actually Filipino clams, introduced in the 1980s to boost production. While they look and taste similar to native species, the irony is that a long-standing Italian culinary tradition was already built around a non-native mollusk – now threatened by yet another foreign species.

What Can Be Done Now?

So if blue crabs in Italy are here to stay, what do we do?

According to Elisabetta, the best path forward is twofold: adaptation and innovation.

1. Fishing Blue Crabs: Treat the crab as an economic resource. Encourage the fishing industry to actively harvest them and develop markets for their sale and consumption.
2. Culinary Embrace: Promote recipes and dishes that incorporate blue crab into Italian cuisine. As painful as it is to imagine a world with fewer clams, we must start seeing the blue crab not just as a threat but as an opportunity.

Culinary culture evolves – even in Italy, where food traditions run deep. Perhaps it’s time to create a new category of Italian seafood dishes, ones where the blue crab in Italy takes center stage in pastas, risottos, and regional specialties.
But have I given up on the beloved Italian clam? Absolutely not!

Next Week: More from Elisabetta Zavoli

This conversation with Elisabetta was far too rich for just one episode. In our next installment, we’ll explore the other powerful and moving projects she’s working on, from marginalized communities to environmental activism around the globe. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

Help the Podcast Grow!

If this episode inspired you or taught you something new, please help spread the word:

• Subscribe to the Flavor of Italy podcast on your favorite platform.
• Rate and Review the podcast – five stars and a few kind words go a long way.
• Share this episode with a friend, especially someone who loves Italy, the sea, or sustainability.

Thank you again for celebrating 250 episodes with me. Let’s keep telling Italy’s stories, one delicious and important episode at a time.

With gratitude,

Wendy Holloway
Host, Flavor of Italy Podcast