2024-07-22 03:53:47
- The water temperature reached 29 degrees
- Sea bass and sea bream, Korean stonefish and blue crab appeared in the Black Sea
The great heat in recent days drove the fish into the sea far from the Bulgarian shores. The water temperature has reached 29 degrees, so fewer fish are coming out. Because of the shortage, prices rose and the pop became a delicacy.
At this time of year, only the saffron and poppets are fresh. There are them in the markets in Burgas, but not in large quantities as in previous years. And this year’s saffron is small.
“At the moment, carp is also caught, but very little. In the spring, his catch was good, so the restaurants must have filled the cameras”, says Tenyo Tenev from Varna, who has been fishing for a living for years and has a small fishing boat.
On the Southern Black Sea coast, saffron costs between 10 and 12 BGN, a
the poppets – 14-15 BGN, approximating the price of sea bass
and the bream. They can be found for both 12 and 18-20 BGN. Large lychnus also reach an incredible 20 BGN per kilogram, a reporter’s inspection of the “Krasnodar” market in Burgas showed.
Even the sprat is cheap and is sold for BGN 5, with a BGN or two more expensive is the larger anchovy. There is a lot of catch for black mussels, which cost BGN 4 per kilo. The most expensive are crayfish – up to BGN 40.
Until 3-4 years ago, it was unthinkable to sell popsicles for BGN 15-20. They used to go for BGN 3-4, and under normal circumstances, inflation would make them more expensive up to BGN 6-7 at most, traders comment.
For years, large pieces of turbot have commanded a price of BGN 30, and although the delicate flatfish runs deep and is more difficult to catch, traders do not dare to raise the price.
“In any case, the temperature of the sea water affects the fish. The warmer it is, the less oxygen there is. Therefore, it is normal for it to flee from shallower coastal areas to deeper cold waters inland. Each species has a different tolerance threshold, but the current seawater values are extreme for all inhabitants of the Black Sea. For the anchovy, for example, the optimal temperature is 16-17 degrees”, Prof. Violin Raikov from the Institute of Oceanology at the BAS commented to “24 Chasa”.
The retreat of fish into the sea happens every year during the hot season, but this summer broke all records.
“The heat affects the entire food chain, which is interrupted by the warm water. With it, oxygen decreases, develops
phytoplankton, which takes oxygen from the fish”,
said Dimitar Yanchev, informal mayor of the fishing village Chengene Skele.
The fact that the breakwater in Burgas has been almost empty of anglers for two weeks also indicates that the fish have moved inward into the sea. Fishermen in Varna also lowered their nets.
The Black Sea mackerel, which has been replaced by Norwegian, Canadian and Argentine mackerel for decades, has already disappeared irretrievably. There are also many species of sturgeon.
On the other hand, Mediterranean sea bass and sea bream have permanently settled in our waters. The last detected exotic species in Bulgarian waters is a Korean stonefish, which is not found in the Mediterranean either, said Prof. Raykov. There is no explanation how it reached our shores, perhaps it entered through larval polyps on ships.
A blue crab appeared from somewhere, not seen in the Black Sea for years.
The markets along the Southern Black Sea coast are
filled with any kind of fish, but it is frozen
– ours or imports from Greece and Turkey. In addition to the traditional safrid, poppeta, sea bass and bream, swordfish is sold for BGN 30 per kilo, fagry, watos, stingray fins, cuttlefish and all kinds of shrimp and squid. Some are imported from as far as Peru and Ecuador. They are found in much larger quantities than sprats, for example.
The plans of the seafarers are already focused on the autumn catch of saffron, bonito, bream and black carp. “On Transfiguration – the day when time turns, things fall into place. A strong westerly wind appears, which pushes out the warm water, a colder layer comes from below, and so after mid-August the usual migration of the fish starts”, says Tenyo Tenev.
According to Violin Raikov, it is high time
to conduct a comprehensive survey of the migration route
of the fish in the Black Sea, which will have repercussions on the livelihood of many people along our Black Sea coast. The same opinion is shared by Dimitar Yanchev, who suggests that the money for a fish soup festival somewhere along the sea be used to finance a scientific expedition – for example, with the ship “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”. To get a complete and lasting picture of the fish population, however, 3-4 years of research will be needed.
“Bulgaria accounts for only 3% of the entire catch in the Black Sea – we have no data for Russia and Ukraine, but the rest belong to Turkey and Georgia,” says Dimitar Yanchev. According to Associate Professor Raykov, our southern neighbor holds 90% of the catch, but for some types of fish we have more than 3%.