A green crab can become a moéca for just a few hours. Fishers have to recognise the signs of moulting before the crab sheds its shell, separate it from the others and check it several times a day. On Burano, this is knowledge handed down through generations of fishing families.

Off Pellestrina, the work follows a different rhythm. Boats head out to the mussel farms, where mussels grow underwater in long mesh socks suspended from lines. The farmers check the ropes, haul up the lines and keep a close eye on currents and water quality. Here, the working calendar is set by the sea, the seasons and the tides.

Climbing aboard with the fishers means stepping into their working day for a few hours. In the lagoon, boats navigate a shifting landscape of channels, shallow waters, velme — mudflats that emerge at low tide — and barene, low-lying saltmarsh islands covered in vegetation.

The tide shapes the work too. As the water rises, many species move towards the shallows; when it falls, they return to deeper channels or head out to sea. Fishing grounds, equipment and working times all follow these movements. In the open sea, meanwhile, boats head for aquaculture sites and fishing grounds.

Pescaturismo, or fishing tourism, allows professional fishers and aquaculture farmers to welcome visitors aboard their working boats. During the trip, you may see fishing or farming operations in progress, discover the equipment used and learn how the work changes with the seasons. Some trips also include lunch, dinner or a tasting of the catch and other seafood produced by the business.

Ittiturismo is slightly different: it takes place on land, at facilities connected with a fishing business, and may include tastings and other experiences based around local seafood and the work of the fishing community.

Among the traditional tools used in the lagoon are tresse, net barriers fixed to poles across the shallows. Along them, fishers place cogolli, funnel-shaped traps that catch fish and crustaceans as they move with the tide.

Moeca Pescaturismo Domenico Rossi.webp — *Green crab from the Venetian Lagoon. Photo by Domenico Rossi.*

Who to go out with

From Burano to Pellestrina, the experiences featured here are run by professional fishers, cooperatives and mussel-farming families based within the Municipality of Venice.

No two trips are quite the same. What happens on board depends on the season, the weather and the work planned for that particular day. In autumn, for instance, comes the fraìma, the period when many species leave the lagoon’s shallow waters and move towards deeper water and the sea.

It is this unpredictability that makes fishing tourism very different from an ordinary boat excursion.

*Burano island. Photo by the City of Venice.*

Burano: pots, nets and moéca crabs

The origins of the Cooperativa San Marco – Pescatori di Burano date back to 1896, when sixteen island fishermen founded the first workers’ fishing cooperative in the Venetian Lagoon. Today, it has almost one hundred members, working both at sea and in the lagoon.

Their activities are varied. Some gather Manila clams, others use pots and cogolli to catch cuttlefish, while others work with fixed nets or specialise in moéche.

Moéche are not a separate species. They are ordinary green crabs caught during the brief moulting stage after they have shed their old shell and before the new one has hardened.

Spotting exactly when this is about to happen takes experience, and the crabs are sorted one by one. The moecanti — fishers specialising in moéche — distinguish the gransi boni, crabs that are approaching the moult, from the gransi mati, which are not. When moulting is imminent, the crabs are known as spiantani.

The gransi boni are kept in vieri, perforated baskets suspended in the water. The spiantani are separated and checked every day so that the newly moulted moéche can be removed at exactly the right moment.

The season lasts only a few weeks, mainly in spring and autumn. Mature females carrying eggs have another name altogether: masanete.

Some members of the cooperative take small groups out onto the waters around Burano and Torcello. What you see depends on both the fisher and the time of year: you might watch pots or fixed nets being worked, follow the moecanti at their craft, or travel through the barene and areas frequented by waterbirds.

Trips are organised from the cooperative’s headquarters in Via Terranova on Burano, or from other departure points confirmed when you book. The headquarters also has a visitor area with photographs, videos and information about fishing in the lagoon.

Domenico and Enrico, both members of the cooperative, work together aboard the Nettuno. Domenico specialises in fishing for moéca crabs, showing visitors how to recognise crabs that are about to moult and the equipment used to catch and monitor them. Enrico, a fisherman with a passion for cooking and traditional Venetian rowing, joins him on board.

Their routes reach the fishing grounds behind Torcello and the waters around Burano, Mazzorbo, San Francesco del Deserto and Sant’Erasmo. As well as trips of a set duration, other itineraries can be arranged.

Information and booking

Pescaturismo Burano – Cooperativa San Marco: pescaturismoburano.it
Pesca Turismo Nettuno: pescaburano.it

Casa della Pesca.jpg — *Casa della Pesca. Photo by Consorzio Ittico Veneziano.*

From the nets to the table at Lio Grando

Small-scale coastal fishing boats return to Lio Grando, on the north-eastern edge of the lagoon, bringing their catch ashore in front of the Casa della Pesca, overlooking the local fishing harbour.

The centre is run by the Consorzio Ittico Veneziano, based on Burano, which brings together three coastal fishing cooperatives: Cooperativa San Marco – Pescatori di Burano, Cooperativa Faro di Cavallino-Treporti and Cooperativa Cortellazzo.

Here, an experience on the water can continue at the table. Fishing-tourism trips led by fishers from the member cooperatives can be combined with a tasting of local seafood at the Casa della Pesca.

Dates, programmes and arrangements should be agreed directly with the centre.

Information and booking

Consorzio Ittico Veneziano – Casa della Pesca: consorzioitticoveneziano.it

Piatto di cozze Mitilla la cozza di Pellestrina.webp — *Pellestrina mussels. Photo by Mitilla.*

Pellestrina, where the peòci grow

On Pellestrina, it takes only a few steps to cross from the lagoon to the Adriatic. The island is long and narrow, protected on its eastern side by the Murazzi, the massive stone sea defences. Along the lagoon shore are small harbours, canals and houses overlooking the water.

Offshore, buoys and lines mark the mussel farms, laid out at sea using longline systems. This is where peòci — the Venetian word for mussels — are grown.

The shellfish develop inside reste, long mesh socks suspended below the surface. Boats travel out to the farms to inspect them, haul up the lines, harvest the mussels and carry out the other work involved in their cultivation.

Fishing tourism gives visitors the chance to see part of this process first-hand. The work varies with the currents, water temperature and quality, as well as the weather.

Riccardo and Massimiliano Busetto have been farming mussels for more than thirty years. Aboard the fishing vessel Antares, they show visitors around the farms and explain how the trade has passed from one generation of their family to the next.

From the water, you can see Pellestrina from a different perspective before heading out towards the mussel-growing areas. Trips run by Pescaturismo Pianeta Mare include lunch or dinner on board, with a seafood menu prepared by the family.

Boats may depart from Pellestrina and, depending on the agreed programme, from Alberoni or Chioggia. The vessel has toilet facilities on board.

Lorenzo Busetto also works among the lines and mussel beds. In 2019, building on the activities of Società Agricola F.lli Busetto, he founded Mitilla.

Its Blu Vertical Farm Experience takes visitors aboard the fishing vessel Mare Vivo to the mussel-farming areas off Pellestrina.

During the trip, you can see the equipment and learn about the different stages of mussel farming, from the shellfish growing on the reste to harvesting. Some excursions are purely boat trips, while others may also include a tasting. Departures are confirmed once the minimum number of participants has been reached.

Information and booking

Pescaturismo Pianeta Mare: pescaturismopianetamare.it
Mitilla – Blu Vertical Farm Experience: mitilla.it

Pellestrina_@mauscave.webp — *Fishing huts on Pellestrina. Photo by @mauscave.*

With the fishers of the southern lagoon

Further south, routes link Chioggia, Pellestrina and the area’s shellfish farms.

The Gorin family has worked in fishing and aquaculture for three generations. Through the Blu Oltremare cooperative, they run trips that generally depart from Chioggia and continue towards Pellestrina.

Along the way, the boat passes mussel farms and an oyster farm. The crew shows how the shellfish are cultivated and explains the different tasks carried out at each stage of production.

You can choose between a shorter trip, with a stop on Pellestrina, and longer excursions with lunch or dinner on board. Experiences are arranged for small groups and must be booked in advance.

Information and booking

Blu Oltremare – Pescaturismo Gorin: blu-oltremare-pescaturismo.it

Opening photograph by Domenico Rossi.

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