Greek Fisherman’s Stark Warning: EU-Promoted Fish Farms Are Turning Crystal-Clear Aegean Waters Into “Quagmires” of Mud

The contradiction is striking: while the European Union promotes aquaculture as an environmentally sustainable solution for food security, local fishermen in Greece are witnessing firsthand the ecological damage caused by industrial fish farming operations.

Nikos Tsipas has spent years navigating the pristine waters around his village on the Greek island of Evia, where the Aegean Sea was once so clear he could see far beneath the surface. Today, he describes a dramatically different scene. Where underwater meadows of sea grass once swayed and schools of silver fish darted through the water, thick layers of sludge now blanket the seafloor. “It’s a quagmire,” Tsipas says, his frustration evident as he surveys the murky waters that have replaced the crystal-clear seas of his memory.

This environmental transformation is occurring as Greece has become one of the EU’s largest farmed fish producers, riding the wave of Brussels’ push toward aquaculture as a green alternative to overfished wild stocks. However, the reality on the ground—or rather, on the water—tells a more complex story. The muddy sediment that now characterizes large patches of shallow water around Evia represents the accumulation of waste from fish farming operations, challenging the narrative that aquaculture is an unqualified environmental win.

The tension between EU policy goals and local environmental impacts highlights a critical question facing Europe’s food security strategy: can industrial fish farming truly deliver sustainability, or are communities like those on Evia paying an unacceptable environmental price for the continent’s protein needs?