The Fisheries and Aquaculture Executive Agency (IARA) has proposed a three-month ban on white clam fishing in the Black Sea, following a 60% drop in catch in 2023 compared to the previous year. The agency's director, Nikolay Georgiev, cites the rapans, a species that preys on smaller molluscs, and intensive, often illegal, fishing practices such as bottom trawling that destroys fish spawn as the main causes for the decline.