The skippers, Andy Giles skipper/owner of the Looe-based 'Guiding Light II', Barney Thomas – owner of Newlyn-based gill-netter 'Ajax' and Simon ‘Sid’ Porter skipper of Newlyn-based gill-netter 'CKS' were accompanied on the three-day trip by Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish FPO and Robert George, Seafood Cornwall quality adviser.

The group visited auction markets at Vigo, La Coruna and Ribbeira as well as visiting fish processing factories and local boat yards.

The trip was funded as part of Seafood Cornwall’s programme to help maximise the value of fish landed in Cornwall.

Nathan de Rozarieux, project director explains: “Cornwall’s dependence on the export market to Spain has decreased slightly in recent years but the Spanish market remains vital for species like megrims, monk and hake which are all landed in Cornwall, so it is important that we understand the needs and expectations of that market”.

Since becoming established in 2004, Seafood Cornwall has worked closely with vessels catching megrims and hake to ensure that the quality landed is consistently high. This work appears to have put fish landed in Cornwall on-par with that seen in Spain.

“Although the quality of some of the fish we saw was very good, it was certainly no better than the standard of the fish landed on Newlyn or Looe,” commented Robert George, Seafood Cornwall’s quality adviser.

The group was also very impressed by the market facilities at Vigo, the largest coastal fish auction market in Europe, which they were told provided employment for 5000 people.

Paul Trebilcock of the Cornish FPO felt that Cornwall could learn from the Spanish approach to designing fish markets: “The markets we saw were fairly new and although not that exciting architecturally they were very well laid out,” he said. He added that it was important to understand that fishermen and fish buyers were at the very heart of developing the infrastructure in Vigo and it was therefore run in a cost-effective manner, ensuring maximum benefits for fishermen and buyers alike.

Vessel owner Barney Thomas also felt that some lessons could be learnt from the Spanish. “We saw some very simple yet effective practices which could be implemented here at minimal cost,” he said.

Seafood Cornwall, an Objective One Fisheries Programme grant funded project, offers advice to industry on fish quality issues and is working to improve the marketing and promotion of fish and seafood.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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