Greeks Challenge EU-Backed Fish Farms Amid Environmental Concerns

For Dimitris Kaleantopoulos, the mud is most disconcerting. When he sets out in his fishing boat, the waters of the Aegean Sea are clear enough for him to see quite a ways down. He says that for large patches of the shallow waters that encircle his village on the Greek island of Evia, where there were once meadows of wavering sea grass and schools of minute silver fish, there is now a thick layer of sludge. “It’s a quagmire,” he said.

Kaleantopoulos and a few of his neighbors assert the muck is proof of the myriad forms of environmental destruction wrought by the nearby fish farm. A group of residents from Porto Lafia and nearby Agio Irini have strung up a banner by the beach which states: “No more fish farms, we want clean seas.” 

Several of these residents have brought a petition before Greece’s highest administrative court, looking to annul the planned expansion of aquaculture in their local waters.

Across Greece, fish farms have been zoned and set to expand 24 times their current acreage, a priority and industry supported with subsidies to the tune of hundreds of millions of Euros from the European Union. Yet along coastlines and on islands, some Greeks are pushing back, arguing that these fish farms are damaging to the seagrass and the marine environment and that they encroach on marine protected areas in violation of EU law.

“The EU wishes to ignore that Greece is the Wild West,” said Anthi Giannoulou, an attorney who has filed a complaint with the EU regarding the zoning for farms in the municipality of Ximero in western Greece in 2022. “They have given a lot of money, and they continue to plan to give a lot of money for this sector, though they know that in Greece the monitoring of environmental issues and enforcement of environmental legislation has a major problem.”  

With its thousands of miles of coastline, Greece is one of the top producers of farmed fish in the EU, and the top producer of sea bream and sea bass in the bloc. In 2024, the country farmed over 140,000 tons of fish with an estimated value over 700 million euros. Almost all of that fish, over 80 percent, is exported to 38 countries, but mostly to Italy, Spain and France. 

Gilthead sea bream and European sea bass, midsize fish with pewter scales, are farmed in 285 marine farms across Greece. Each farm is visible as rows or clusters of hoops, around 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49 feet) in diameter, floating off coastlines. Those hoops are the upper faces of cylinder-shaped cages, which are suspended above and anchored to the sea floor. Each cage contains tens of thousands of fish, depending on the age of the fish and the conditions of the farm. 

The fish farm in Marmari, Evia, currently has 30 of these cages of various sizes, tethered to orange buoys and capped with green netting. Elisavet Kourkoula passes by the farm regularly on the way to her home in Porto Lafia, taking the road that swings past cliffsides before disintegrating into a gravel drive. “Back when I was younger I used to see starfish and crabs in these waters. Now I don’t,” she said. “The sea isn’t clean like it used to be.”

Kourkoula is one of the signatories of the petition being brought to Greece’s highest court challenging the zoning plan that has cleared permissions for new fish farms to be installed along the island of Evia. The petition, which was reviewed by Inside Climate News, alleges that the designated aquaculture zones violate EU and Greek law in that they contain significant posidonia seagrass meadows and impinge on the Natura  2000 Marine Area of the South Euboean Gulf.

Posidonia oceanica, or Neptune grass, is a bright-green seagrass that blooms in bunches in shallow Mediterranean waters, usually at depths no more than 40m (131ft). These bunches spread out into vast meadows that act as nurseries for fish and other seafloor creatures. Most importantly, much like trees on land, posidonia plays an important role in sequestering carbon. Posidonia are delicate and can wither if blocked from the sun or if their surrounding waters are polluted.

“Posidonia oceanica is affected up to 400 meters (1,312 feet) from the edge of the cages,” said Ioannis Karakassis, a professor of biology at the University of Crete who has studied aquaculture in Greece for decades. The seagrass is impacted by the waste from these farms—uneaten fish feed and feces—that fall into the surrounding water and settle on the sea floor, though also by the cages’ obstruction of sunlight.

Posidonia seagrass is a protected species under both European Union and Greek law, which prohibits fish farms from being installed above the meadows. Yet Karakassis said that “some farms have been sited near posidonia meadows despite the prohibitions by the regulation in place, and the environmental impact studies have failed to protect such habitats.”

In 2021, Archipelagos, a Greek research and conservation organization, found that fields near two farms in western Greece were dead or “clearly degraded” and that based on growth rates, the farms must have been illegally placed on top of the seagrass. Underwater video show meadows shriveled into a lichen-colored morass. 

Communities across Greece have alleged similar destruction. Investigations by marine environment consulting firm TerraSolutions found posidonia in several aquaculture zones off of Evia, where the governmental Environmental Impact Study had declared none. “They are not doing the studies properly,” said Vasilis Dovolis, president of the Environmental Association of Aliveri, north of Marmari. The waters around town have similarly been zoned for fish farm expansion, and the municipality has also appealed. 

“We’re just asking for a proper spatial mapping of marine life. But now they have taken measurements from afar, or at points when the water was unclear and nothing can be seen. And there has already been destruction for so many years.”

Photos from one dive conducted by TerraSolutions in southern Evia show the posidonia near a current fish farm with moss-like growth taking over the seagrass fronds. “I can see it when I swim,” said Kourkoula. “In all of this bay I can see the posidonia, but near the farm there’s none.”

The Fisheries Directorate of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture did not respond to requests for comment regarding the presence of posidonia in these zones.

The petition from Evia additionally points out that the fish farms are set to expand in and beside Natura 2000 zones. Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas designated by the European Union that member states are obligated to protect. Greece has 174 marine Natura 2000 zones, though only a dozen have national legislation that specifies what is and isn’t permitted in the zone—something the country was censured for in a 2020 ruling by the EU Court of Justice.

The placement of fish farms inside Natura  2000 zones is not de facto illegal. The question is whether the farms are negatively impacting the natural habitats or species that the area aims to protect. “This must be evaluated by the [local] administration in charge of the management,” said Michael Sealey, a senior policy advisor at the ocean conservation organization Oceana. “And so, if they find that the activity is impacting the protected habitats or species in the Natura 2000 area, they would need to study the implementation of mitigation measures, or if there’s nothing that can be changed, they would have to most likely relocate those fish farms, and close them down where they are causing a negative impact.”

In 2022 attorney Anthi Giannoulou filed a complaint with the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Environment on behalf of the municipality Xiromero in western Greece, alleging that Greece was not in compliance with EU directives in its zoning of aquaculture in Natura  2000 sites. She received a response that an investigation had been opened, and Greece has been asked for clarifications.

In the past decade, the EU has promoted aquaculture as an effective and environmentally sustainable option for food security within the bloc, integrating it into its European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy. Aquaculture produces high-protein, nutrient-rich food without the use of fresh water, and with generally lower greenhouse gas emissions than other meat. 

The EU also touts the industry’s potential for job creation in rural areas, and the economic boon of food produced within the EU, reducing reliance on imports. “It is undeniable that much potential remains to be harvested from the sea and we need to make sure that we do it in a sustainable manner,” wrote the then European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, in 2017. “It is the right thing to do and frankly it is also good business.” 

The European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund is the main financial engine supporting the industry within the EU. From 2014 to 2020 it allocated 1.2 billion euros of its funding to aquaculture, and the current program running from 2021 to 2027 earmarked another 1 billion euros.

The EU’s 2028-2034 proposed budget, released in September, allocates at least 2 billion euros for fisheries of all kinds within the bloc. 

Greece was granted over 360 million euros, of which over 140 million euros was allocated for aquaculture-related projects. It received another 375 million euros in the previous round of funding, and tens of millions over the past 10 years for aquaculture-related investments and research from the Horizon Europe and the Recovery and Resilience Facility funds.

Regulation stipulates that non-compliance with relevant European Union regulations can result in suspension of payment. Though protection of certain species are mentioned specifically in the fund’s regulations, the protected posidonia seagrass is not named.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries did not respond to requests for comment.

In March, the European Union launched a campaign to promote aquaculture in the bloc made up of videos from aquaculture projects. One video features the fish farm in Marmari, with the owner noting, “we operate in a protected area, with clear blue waters rich in biodiversity.” 

The campaign website states: “While aquaculture production is on the rise worldwide, in the EU it has not grown since 2018. Among the main obstacles for the growth of aquaculture in the EU are the lack of social acceptance for new aquaculture sites and insufficient awareness of the importance and benefits of this activity for EU citizens.” 

For years, Greece’s Ministry of Rural Development and Food has maintained that the development of the fish farming sector is a national priority, asserting its ability to create “national sufficiency” and attract foreign investment. 

Yet a study published this summer by the University of Piraeus said that heavily subsidized aquaculture does not contribute significantly to the Greek economy. In 2023, aquaculture contributed only 0.35 percent to Greece’s economy  “Overall, the sector demonstrates limited macroeconomic contribution, stagnant employment, low innovation, and growing environmental conflicts,” the report said.

Locals in Evia said they do not see the economic benefit of the industry or the EU’s vast subsidies. Kaleantopoulos and Kourkoula both said their neighbors who work at the farm are paid poorly, and that all of the investment has not reached their village, much like the paved road that ends a bit after the farm. 

But their greatest concern are the waters next to their homes. “What kind of green economy is it when the green of the sea, the posidonia, suffocates?” said Kourkoula. “What green?” 

The decision on their petition to Greece’s highest court is expected in December.