The Mediterranean's cry: fishermen, fishmongers and restaurants, on the edge

Foodies on Menorca/C.M- Despite the agreement reached just a few days ago by the Fisheries Ministers of the European Union (EU) to cushion the cut in trawling in the Mediterranean against the initial proposal of the European Commission (EC), which wanted to reduce fishing days by 79%, the verdict of the seafarers is unanimous: it is almost impossible, in practice, to work the same days as before. The angler fishermen are disappointed. The agreement, which was based on a proposal of 27 fishing days, will translate in practice, they are convinced, into fewer catches and less profits and the impossibility for the bull boats to face the investments necessary to maintain the sustainability of their activity.

The reality of it all is that the EU decision - which aims to guarantee a balance between social, economic and environmental considerations - does not convince fishermen, fishmongers or restaurateurs. Above the triumphalism displayed by the Spanish Ministry, from within it is still seen that the future of hundreds of families who depend, directly and indirectly, on this economic activity, continues to hang by a thread.

The changes promoted by Brussels, which aim to protect marine ecosystems, seem to forget a key point: without the fishing sector, not only are jobs lost, but ancestral traditions and unique products that are part of the most authentic symbols of the cultural identity of Mediterranean peoples such as Menorca are also endangered.

The reality is clear: the EU decision - which aims to guarantee a balance between social, economic and environmental considerations - does not convince fishermen, fishmongers or restaurateurs

What will happen to the fresh prawns, freshly caught hake, squid or octopus that bring life to the markets and to the dishes of so many restaurants? If the EU decision goes ahead, they could soon disappear or start to be missing from the menus of many establishments. Fishmongers, for their part, could see their supply of fresh produce reduced even further.

Bep Caules, owner of the trawler "Rosa Santa I" and owner of the Cafè Balear, is clear: "The EU agreement is totally unfeasible for the trawlers of the Western Mediterranean. We cannot start from 27 days and keep adding fishing days based on a series of compensatory measures to damage the environment as little as possible. No matter how much a boat can increase its allocation of fishing days based on these measures, we still cannot work enough days a year. It cannot be that adding these compensation measures we are left with, in the best case, four months and four and a half months of work a year. To start with, we have 27.3 days granted, and from there we can add working days as we apply these sustainability measures, but even that is not clear, right now. There is total confusion. But I can tell you that in the most optimistic case we are left with four months or four and a half months of work”.

What will happen to the fresh prawns, the freshly caught hake, the squid or the octopus that give life to the markets and the dishes of so many restaurants? If the EU decision goes ahead, they could soon disappear or start to be missing from the menus of many establishments

Caules, who met this week with the rest of the trawler owners in Ciutadella -Joan Coll, from "La Valldemossa", and Xavier Marquès, from the boat "Vicenta" - describes the situation as unsustainable. "My position, and I conveyed it to the meeting, is that we have to stand up because I believe that the EU proposal is economically unviable. We have to find a balance between environmental sustainability and survival or economic sustainability. If not, one of the two feet of the scale breaks". The owner of the "Rosa Santa I" explains that "this Friday we are mooring the boat, we are making a technical stop to give the staff a rest and we are waiting to see what happens. Right now we do not know how many working fishing days we will have from the first of January".

Bep Caules: “My position, I have already conveyed it to the other shipowners, is that we must stand our ground. The European Union's proposal is completely unfeasible”.

Restaurants

The owner of the well-known Cafè Balear believes that the measure to cut fishing days for trawlers will also end up taking its toll on restaurants that, like his, have made fresh produce their main identity. “When I bought the "Rosa Santa I" almost thirty years ago, I did it thinking of having first-hand, zero-kilometer product right away. There's no doubt that all this could upset my plans. The only solution is for them to let us fish a little more than the proposal says so that we can make the numbers and keep the boat. But we have to sit down and do these numbers, because there's no one who, working three or four months a year, can earn enough to pay for expenses and staff. To all this we must add the insecurity we face. Because, when do we fish? I can already tell you that I will do everything possible so that the boat continues fishing and that we can have first-hand product for the restaurant for five or six months a year. But there is no doubt that the measure affects many jobs and many people, in addition to affecting a culture and traditions, if you allow me, that are very important to us”.

Caules recalls that “in fact, there are fewer and fewer restaurants that offer fresh fish on their menus; first, because they can’t find it, and secondly, because what comes from abroad, although it can also be fresh, is very expensive, or it arrives in conditions that are not as good as the fresh fish from here”.

The president of the CAEB-Menorca Restaurateurs Association, José Bosch, states that the European proposal “harms the supply of restaurants that offer fresh fish”. “What is not possible - he assures - is that fish disappears from the local product. We have already told the fishermen that whatever happens, they have our full support. And not only from the restaurateurs, but also from the Association of Gastronomic Writers and Journalists and the Fra Roger Association. We cannot fill our mouths with local produce and then not be able to go fishing. It is a contradiction that the Administration encourages, on the one hand, zero-kilometer consumption, while on the other it is inoperative to prevent the destruction of the sector, and even more so when Menorca is an example of good practices”.

An entire sector, condemned to extinction? Time will have the last word. Something is at stake that is much more than an economic activity: a way of life and a legacy that is transmitted, with increasing difficulty, from generation to generation.

A cry for help

The cry is clear: a balance must be found between protecting the environment and the survival of the fishing sector. Sustainability is a priority, but policies must be realistic and fair, and this is precisely what is not at all clear at the moment.

The voices of those who live from the sea also include fishmongers. Carmen Sánchez is the owner of the Peixateria Sa Llotja, in the Fish Market in Maó, where only three stalls currently remain. The fish she sells - the business has been operating for around half a century - comes from two bull boats from Maó and one from Ciutadella. “If Europe reduces the number of fishing days for trawlers, some people will be left on the streets. The EU proposal is not feasible no matter how you look at it. You cannot survive working two or three months a year. In the sector, we have been screwed.”

Sánchez sees the reality very clearly: “If the boats don’t go out fishing, we won’t have shrimp, octopus, whiting, squid… Nothing.”

The fishmonger explains that “in the past, fishing was an activity that was passed down from father to son. That’s no longer the case. Today, shipowners hire workers. If there’s no work, they’ll have to change jobs. I’ve been here for twenty years. If the work disappears, I’ll have to go back to what I did at the beginning. We all have to do work.”

Raquel Santiago, from Pescados Raquel, has been running the fishmonger’s of the Cooperativa San Crispín in Alaior for three months, and explains that the European measure is tough because “people are used to the fish here. Fish that comes from outside, like sea bream and sea bass, represents a small part of sales. 80% of the fish I have at my stall comes from local boats: pirulí, móllera, prawns, hake, morralla, squid”. Santiago believes that the application of European restrictions would result in a direct drop in sales. “The situation would force us to depend on fish from abroad, where there is not the variety of fish that there is here. Red seabream, móllera, pirulí..., there are many species that are only caught here. The boats arrive at dusk and in the morning I already have it at my stall. Fresher, impossible. And all this, the consumer notices. There is a lot of demand for prawns here, and you can’t find the prawns we have here anywhere”.

The fishmonger does not understand that the measure applies equally to some territories as to others: “Menorca is not Mallorca, nor Barcelona. Here there are only four boats. In Mallorca, there are many more. I very much agree with the idea of ??preserving the environment, but we cannot compare Menorca with Mallorca. In Mallorca, there is much more fish in the fishmongers. Everything I have here every day is sold”.

For Catina Coll, from the fishmonger in Sant Lluís, applying the European Union agreements “means that if the ox boats cannot fish there will be no prawns, no squid, no hake, no pelaia... You will have to throw away, whether you like it or not, fish from the Peninsula. I hope they stop it or it will be the death of all the people who work in the sector”.

The cry of alarm from Joan Coll, skipper, netman, salesman and owner of the boat La Valldemossa, is even more frightening. “In Europe they have been holding meetings this Tuesday, but it’s all a farce. I have no doubt that many companies will close, mine may be one of them. The companies that we dedicate ourselves to are not viable with only 100 days of fishing. It’s all a cycle: I have people who started with me at 23 or 25 years old and who will only work for five months next year, if things go very well. And how can we face a year like that? Many of these kids are asking themselves if they will want to come back to work when we return to the dock. And it’s quite normal. Carrying a waiter’s tray will be cheaper for them than spending thirteen hours a day working, which is what we end up doing, between one thing and another.”

When it comes to the future of the fishmonger's shop -La Valldemossa is one of the two stalls that are holding out in the Plaça des Peix in Ciutadella - Joan Coll's verdict is equally dire. "The fishmonger's shop is going down the drain. For months I have been trying to meet with the councillor on duty at Ciutadella City Council and to this day it is still the time he has to call me on the phone to be able to grate. Because it happens that I am paying for a fishmonger's shop all year when in 2024 I will have gone three months without going there. All these things added up make the problem bigger and bigger".

The situation of the restaurants is no less bleak. "I alone manage sixteen restaurants in high season. Of these sixteen restaurants, maybe only two will eat fish from here, and very few days. Things have to change a lot between now and the end of the year so that I can leave next year".

The shipowner from La Valldemossa has some harsh words for Brussels: “Europe only remembers the Islands, that is, the famous G6, because we do things very well, but when it comes to dividing up the pie, it looks to Almeria or Valencia; that is, to places that are overexploited, and puts everything in the same bowl. Brussels is far away from Menorca. We can't be managed from so far away. Years ago, a lot of work was done to parcel out the sea. The G6, which is where the Vicenta, the Rosa Santa, the Ciutat de Maó fish, is more than fine, but there are other areas that are not. If we get a ten in Mathematics, but a zero in Language, we already get a five. Brussels makes a package in Spain and puts us all together. We are tired of asking it to separate things. People are not aware of it, but the ball is very big. For years we have been selling the concept of zero kilometer; all in all, it is a very big pantomime that is going down the drain”. Joan Coll is desolate: “Our bread is gone. I went down to Baixamar in 1985. The only thing left now is the remains. The fish has been loaded”.

The sector is bleeding to death. If the EU does not listen to the voices of those who come from the sea, it will soon be without fishermen, fishmongers and restaurateurs who bring the best of the sea to our plates. Without fishing, the Mediterranean will cease to be the vibrant heart that we know. The sector is risking its future.