How rising sea temperatures are ravaging Greece's mussel industry

"We've observed rising mortality since 2017, but now it's total collapse. The sea is changing - our mussels can't survive in these conditions anymore."

These are the words of Giorgos Nikolaidis, mussel farmer and biologist who specializes in the study of marine life. 

Greece's mussel farming industry is under serious threat with record-breaking sea temperatures last summer wiping out nearly 90 percent of the harvest in the Thermaic Gulf.

It has left dozens of coastal communities reeling with scientists warning it's yet another sign of a rapidly changing climate. So what is going on?

The warm, shallow waters of the Thermaic Gulf hide a growing catastrophe for local farmers. 

Last July, sea temperatures surged past 30 degrees Celsius, turning this once-productive bay for mussels into a lifeless zone.

Entire harvests were lost, along with the baby mussels meant to seed next year's crop. In villages like Chalastra and Kymina, hundreds of farmers now face an uncertain future.

Christos Bakalis, a fourth generation mussel farmer, told CGTN Europe: "Last year's heat killed everything - the seed, the harvest, everything. In this area alone, we lost 100 percent. No income. No future."

Many other farmers are watching their livelihoods slip away. While scientists have warned for years that climate change would warm Mediterranean waters, few expected the impact to come so severe and so fast.

Global and local problem

These waters once powered one of Europe's top mussel industries. Today, they are eerily quiet. Last summer's heat pushed sea temperatures so high the mussels had no chance of survival.

With no seed left to regrow, this isn't just a local crisis. Greece exports nearly all of its 20,000 tons of mussels every year. Now that entire chain is at risk.

Nikolaidis added: "If this continues, we may not be talking about temporary losses, but the end of mussel farming in this region altogether."

The Greek government has acknowledged the scale of the damage and says it's working with European institutions on potential support. But so far, farmers say little help has reached them.

Bakalis said: "I've lived by the sea all my life. Now it's pushing me away. The fourth generation and we may be the last."

With no relief yet in sight and fears the seas are only getting hotter, many locals here fear their livelihoods are now completely destroyed.