We predict the invasion
before it hits.

BlueCrabNet turns satellite data, smart buoys and fishermen's reports into a 7-day forecast of where the blue crab will strike — so fishers, shellfish farmers and institutions can act before the damage, not after.

Open the platform → See how it works ↓

7-dayForecast horizon

Real-timeSmart buoy network

VenetoLagoon & Adriatic

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The problem

An unstoppable invader

The blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) was a curiosity in Italian waters for decades. In 2022 it exploded — and the lagoon economy has been chasing it ever since.

1949

First catch recorded in Italy. Irrelevant for over seventy years.

2022 — the boom

Population erupts in the northern Adriatic. 97 tonnes landed.

2024

713 tonnes landed — a +600% surge in two years.

2025

Reaches Mantova, 160 km up the Po. The Mediterranean is next.

1949

First catch in Italy

+600%

Growth: 97t (2022) → 713t (2024)

€100M

Estimated damage in Italy

Eggs per female, every summer

Countries now at risk across the Mediterranean

Map of the Mediterranean showing where the blue crab is already present — **Today:** where the crab is already present.

Map of the Mediterranean showing where environmental conditions are already favorable for the blue crab — **Tomorrow:** where conditions are already favorable.

Ground zero

Why Veneto is the epicentre

Veneto is where the invasion turned from anecdote into emergency. The lagoon's brackish, nutrient-rich water is a perfect nursery — and the crab is already pushing inland, up the Po.

3,000+

Aquaculture farms hit

in the Po Delta alone — clam and mussel beds devastated.

160 km

Upstream spread along the Po

from the rivermouth to Mantova between 2022 and 2025.

Italy's hardest-hit region

Veneto sits at the front line of the entire Mediterranean expansion.

Map of sampling sites in Sacca degli Scardovari lagoon — **Sampling sites** in Sacca degli Scardovari.

Map showing upstream spread of the blue crab along the Po River to Mantova, 2022 to 2025 — **Upstream spread along the Po:** 160 km from the mouth to Mantova, 2022–2025.

The gap

Existing solutions fail

Every current response shares the same flaw: it reacts to a crab that has already arrived. None of them tells anyone where it will be next.

Hunting & compensations

€47M in reimbursements and capture nets, 212 strategic points, regional consortia. Effort without foresight.

Reactive · acts too late

Blue crab as a resource

E-commerce, recipes, industrial supply chains, pharma scrap. Real value — but only a niche use.

Depends on unplanned supply

Theoretical studies

Validated predictors and institutional monitoring from research bodies — papers, not products.

No operational output

There is no network. There are no forecasts.
BlueCrabNet builds both.

The solution

From space to lagoon

Three streams of data flow into a single AI model — and out comes one 7-day forecast, shaped for the three groups who need it most.

Data fusion diagram: Copernicus satellite, buoy network and fishermen field reports flow into an AI model producing a 7-day forecast for fishermen, aquaculture farms and the Veneto Region.

What Copernicus measures

Open satellite data on the conditions that decide where the crab can thrive.

Temperature

Optimal 18 °C – 30 °C

Copernicus Marine — Mediterranean Sea High-Resolution Surface Temperature

Chlorophyll-a

Food-chain richness

Maps predator distribution against habitat carrying capacity — Mediterranean Sea Biogeochemistry Analysis & Forecast

Salinity

Optimal 5 – 25 PSU

Copernicus Marine — Mediterranean Sea Physics Analysis & Forecast

The hardware

Smart buoys that attract & detect

A self-powered surface node and a baited underwater structure — one device that lures crabs in, counts them with on-board AI, and streams the readings home.

Render of a BlueCrabNet smart buoy: a solar-powered surface float tethered to an underwater habitat cage with camera and trap.

Surface node

Solar panelAutonomous power

LoRa antenna30-min transmission

Galileo GPSHigh-precision position

Environmental sensorsTemp · salinity · O₂

Underwater structure

Habitat moduleAttracts crabs

360° HD cameraReal-time AI counting

BallastStable in currents

Adjustable tether — up to 30 m

Aerial view of the Venetian lagoon overlaid with a distributed network of BlueCrabNet monitoring buoys connected in real time.

One buoy becomes a living network

Dozens of nodes across the lagoon feed the model continuously — turning isolated readings into a real-time map of the whole coast.

The platform

See the whole coast, seven days ahead

Monitor the buoy network in real time. Forecast crab density 7 days ahead from Copernicus and field data. Report your catch with location, photo and quantity — and feed the network.

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