Convention de Berne

Convention relative à la conservation de la vie sauvage et du milieu naturel de l’Europe

The complaint was issued by the DG Joint Research Centre - Institute for Environment and Sustainability in 2014 on the large-scale exploitation and marketing of protected marine shelled molluscs in Greece.

A study carried out by Katsanevakis et al. (2011) on the availability of molluscs in Greek restaurants suggests that eight protected species have been served in the surveyed restaurants and that forty-two percent of the restaurants were found to serve at least one of the protected and hence illegally exploited species. According to the complainant, all the mollusc species protected under the Annex II of the Bern Convention are declining in the Mediterranean and especially at the Greek coastal areas as intense exploitation for illegal trading in seafood restaurants continues due to weak enforcement and ineffective surveillance.

The complainant states that the harvesting of molluscs in particular for Lithophaga lithophaga has serious implications for the shallow rocky subtidal habitats as the first centimetres of rock have to be removed to collect the bivalves, which causes direct damages to benthic assemblages by eradicating sessile animals and algae and by favouring a local increase in sea urchin population densities. The case remains on stand-by.

 Key Timeline

• 2014 - Case registration

 Other countries possibly concerned

• N/A

 Other international organisations involved

• N/A

 Documents

Complaint form

Regular reports to the Bureau and/or Standing Committee

Please note that all reports received by a Party during one calendar year are included in one single report for that year. Some older reports are not available in digital form.

Other information / documents