On the Greek island of Poros, the expansion of the fish farm was abandoned in the name of the environment

"This is a great victory for Poros!" On August 8, Giorgos Koutouzis, mayor of the island located an hour and a half from Athens, publicly announced that the Central Council on Urban Planning Disputes (KESYPOTHA) of the Ministry of the Environment had unanimously rejected the project to expand fishing activities on Poros.

As early as 2011, Greece identified twenty-five strategic sites, including Poros, that could host or develop fish farming activities. Poros has already had four fish farms since the 1990s. But the new project, led by the Avramar company, planned to increase sea bream and sea bass production eightfold in just five years, to 8,831 tonnes. The new facilities were to extend over a quarter of the island's coastline, which attracts many yachts. It's hard to imagine maintaining tourism in the midst of this industrial activity, which, according to its detractors, has harmful effects on the environment.

" More than 90% of residents have been opposed to this project for years, and at the end of June, 2,500 people on our small island demonstrated against it," recalls Fay Orfanidou, director of the local environmental protection NGO Katheti. "When people unite around a just cause, get informed, and collaborate, they can influence decisions that impact their future ," she says.

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