Greek authorities announced, today, a series of measures to support local businesses after more than 100 tonnes of dead fish were carried by floodwater into the central port of Volos.
HDN Newsroom
According to a joint statement by the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Health, Environment and Energy, Labour and Social Security, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, the raft of measures include subsidies for businesses who have experienced a loss of turnover.
Tax and insurance payments will also be suspended and the 'Thessaly Pass' will be activated, a scheme which aims to promote regional tourism.
Additionally, the local government will look into ways to fund a comprehensive programme for the promotion of the local area.
The dead freshwater fish filled both Volos bay and nearby rivers on Tuesday after they were displaced from their normal habitats by flooding last year.
Fishing trawlers were chartered by the regional authorities to scoop the dead fish out of the sea and load them onto trucks where they were taken to an incinerator.
The fish came from Lake Karla in central Greece, a body of water drained in the early 1960s and restored in 2018 to combat the effects of drought.
"We are cooperating with whoever wants to see this phenomenon end as quickly as possible," Anna Maria Papadimitriou, the deputy regional governor of the central Thessaly area, said on Friday.
"The regional governor has declared a state of emergency," she added.
Water levels rose abruptly last autumn during a deadly storm that caused extensive flooding in central Greece but have since receded due to low rainfall in subsequent months and successive heatwaves this summer.
Experts say a net was not placed at the mouth of the river leading into Volos, so when the freshwater fish were carried with the floodwater, they died after coming into contact with seawater.
The mayor of Volos, Achilleas Beos, lashed out at the regional authority, accusing it of acting too slowly. Speaking a press conference he said the stench was unbearable and warned the rotting fish could cause an environmental disaster.
And the city's Chamber of Commerce said it was taking legal action to seek damages after commercial activity in the popular tourist destination dropped by an estimated 80% over three days.
"Businesses along the seafront, particularly in the catering industry, are now suspending operations," the chamber said in a statement.
"A strong stench along the seafront is repulsive to both residents and visitors, delivering a severe blow to tourism in Volos."
The hundreds of thousands of dead fish that flooded the Pagasetic Gulf off the eastern coast of mainland Greece in recent days died of natural causes and not of poisoning by an industrial effluent or some other toxin, an Environment Ministry official said on Saturday.
Speaking to state broadcaster ERT, Petros Varelidis, the secretary general for Natural Environment and Waters, said the issue stems back to last September’s Storm Daniel. The storm, he said, flooded Karla Lake in Thessaly, central Greece, making it grow in size and become a safe and rich ecosystem that spurred freshwater fish spawning. When the lake began to return to its natural size as a result of absorption and evaporation, the lake shrank, suffocating its unusually large fish population.
“When the drainage ditch fell below the water surface in the plain, the water suddenly gained momentum, and all these fish, dead or alive, were carried away towards the Pagasetic Gulf,” Varelidis claimed, adding that those fish which were alive died when they entered a saltwater environment.
Varelidis went on to say that cleanup efforts of Xiria stream, which links Karla to the gulf, are starting to pay off and that the situation is now under control, particularly in the seaside city of Volos, where a state of emergency has been declared.
The tragic event with the tons of dead fish in Volos made headlines worldwide with media like CNN and The New York Times covering it extensively.
Watch the NY Times video
