Greek Authorities Install Barriers and Offer Bounties Around Evia After Toadfish Sightings

Greek authorities have installed floating safety barriers anchored to the seabed around the island of Evia to create protected swimming areas after the silver-cheeked toadfish appeared in increasing numbers along the Greek coastline, GB News reported.

The barriers form part of a wider response that also includes a bounty scheme paying fishermen €5.33 per kilogram for each fish handed in. A further seven kilometres of protective netting is scheduled for installation around Evia.

Antonis Spanos, vice-mayor of Chalkida, said the priority was citizen safety. "Our duty and primary concern has to be the safety of our citizens. " The silver-cheeked toadfish is native to the Indian Ocean and entered the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

It was first recorded in the region in 2003 and has since spread to waters around Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Malta and Tunisia, reaching the Adriatic Sea. Its flesh contains tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin, and its powerful beak-like jaws have caused partial finger amputations in documented cases.

The Hellenic Red Cross advised that no part of the fish is safe to eat and recommended immediate wound cleaning and medical treatment after any bite.

Nikos Choulieris, a local diving instructor, said the netting should hold. "I don't think anything will be able to get through that net, not even the fangs of a pufferfish. " The new measures follow an incident weeks earlier in which a pensioner in Varkiza, near Athens, suffered a suspected bite that required hospital treatment including stitches.