Tag Archives: Spain
Versatile Inshore Boat for the Basque Country Fleet
Although the general trend in the fishing sector in the Basque Country and the rest of Spain is to export or decommission, some owners from the town of Arminza, in the province of Vizcaya (north of Bilbao), decided to build a new vessel. Made of GRP, Beti Itsasoko has a 14-metre length and a beam of 5 metres, it has a number of features that set it apart from the boats with which it shares its fishing grounds. To begin with, it has an unusual modern design for Spanish waters, with an inverted bow, designed for more comfortable operation by minimising pounding as it cuts through the waves. On the other hand, the vessel measures 14,7gt and is configured to have two independent engines, which gives it greater maneuverability as each drives its own shaft, propellers and rudder. It also has a capacity for 8000 litres of fuel and a hold with space for almost 9 tonnes of fish in the chilled fishroom. Photos, more, >>click ti Read<< 16:66
Spanish fishing boat stopped by Gibraltar police ignites war of words
Relations between Gibraltar and politicians across the border in Spain soured this week after Gibraltar police took action against a Spanish fishing vessel which they claimed had been repeatedly entering British territorial water off the Rock. Spanish local and regional politicians have angrily denied the small vessel called Mi Daniela was fishing in Gibraltarian waters and asked Gibraltar for an explanation. The Royal Gibraltar Police said that on Monday morning this week the skipper was stopped and reported over a series of alleged offences in a joint operation with the Rock’s Customs and Environmental Protection officers. >click to read< 14:28
15-Man Crew of Galician Fishing Boat Rescued in British Waters After Fire Breaks Out
There were no reports of any injuries after the incident in the Gran Sol. The sailors from the F/V Nuevo San Juan fishing boat that is based in the Lugo town of Burela were rescued by another fishing vessel, the F/V Nuevo Confurco. As soon as the blaze broke out the 15 crew members abandoned the ship and took to the lifeboats. While they were rescued safe and sound, material possessions were regrettably lost in the incident. The longline trawler is 31.5 metres in length and specialises in fishing for hake. >click to read< 13:47
Death-trap trawler crew must be paid and allowed to go home, ITF says
Fishers on a 50-year-old trawler should not be made to go back to sea, even to sail to a repair yard, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is demanding of a vessel which has been so poorly maintained it has become death trap. The fishing vessel Santa Isabel (IMO 7224540), flying under the Belize flag, has been detained by maritime authorities in the port of Vigo in northern Spain since 10 May 2023, after the ITF drew attention to its appalling state, as well as the intolerable conditions for crew observed by the ITF inspector. The ITF became involved before the Santa Isabel arrived in Vigo when some of the crew asked for help through FishSupport, a network of inspectors and union contacts who have the knowledge and experience to assist fishers. The fishers had not been paid and feared they would be sent home without pay when the ship arrived in Spain to unload its catch. They requested anonymity because they were scared of reprisals by the ship’s owners. Photos, >click to read< 08:43
The European Union’s Plan to Ban Bottom Fishing is Causing Widespread Outrage
The plan, which seeks to ban bottom trawling in protected areas, has caused widespread demonstrations, disruption of work in ports, and the launch of a protest movement by fishermen in France called “Blocked Ports”. Although the Commission’s proposals do not represent new legislation, and will not be implemented soon in a way that satisfies some environmental protection non-governmental organizations, they have been met with strong opposition from a number of member states. There was outrage in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Denmark, who feared the plan would endanger the entire fishing industry. The “Marine Action Plan” for sustainable fishing was announced on February 12, and it includes initiatives to phase out deep-sea trawling in protected areas. >click to read< 08:51
Two dead, one seriously injured and one missing in the shipwreck of a fishing boat off the coast of Santander
The coordination center of Maritime Rescue of Santander received the notice of the shipwreck shortly before five in the morning. The F/V Vilaboa Uno had an emergency six miles off the Cantabrian coast. Immediately other fishing boats that were in the area and maritime rescue personnel have approached the place. They have only been able to rescue seven crew members alive, one of them seriously injured. Two of the sailors have been killed and a third remains missing. After receiving the warning, the alert was distributed among the boats in the area. Several fishing boats, a Maritime Rescue ship and a helicopter have been transferred there at dawn. The fishing vessel F/V Siempre Nécora, the first to arrive, managed to locate seven of the crew. The Phoenix gave with an eighth and a boat of the Pilots of the Port to the ninth Video, >click to read< 11:25
The Fishing Revolution and the Origins of Capitalism
Fishing is older than humanity. Fishing for sale rather than consumption developed along with the emergence of class-divided urban societies about five thousand years ago. Getting fish to towns and cities where people could not catch it themselves required organized systems for catching, cleaning, preserving, transporting, and marketing. This was particularly true in the Roman Empire, where serving fresh fish at meals was a status symbol for the rich, and fish preserved by salting was an essential source of protein for soldiers and the urban poor. In addition to boats, an extensive shore-based infrastructure was needed to provide fish for millions of citizens and enslaved people: “elaborate concrete vats and other remains of ancient fish-processing plants have been found all along the coasts of Sicily, North Africa, Spain, and even Brittany on the North Atlantic. The first surviving account of fish depletion caused by overfishing was written in Rome, about 100 CE. >click to read< 10:29
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: “this is very similar to the Alvia, the Yak-42 and Spanair, politicians who do not assume their responsibilities”
The families of the 21 deceased in the Villa de Pitanxo traveled this Friday to the Sub delegation of the Government in Pontevedra to read a manifesto in which they show their discomfort with the central Government of Pedro Sánchez for failing to fulfill its commitment to “do everything possible and impossible” to investigate what happened. The promise was made by the president on the night of February 21, when the nine bodies located in Terranova arrived by plane to Santiago de Compostela, and almost six months later they remind him that “he does not fulfill his commitment.” Kevin González, son of one of those killed in the shipwreck, read the statement on behalf of the 21 families of those killed in the shipwreck, accompanied by a small representation of relatives and two banners with the faces of the sailors who did not survive the sinking and with their claims. Photos, >click to read< (you may need to click translate)16:27
How did a captain survive? – The mysterious death of 21 men on a Spanish fishing boat
On 15 February, the Villa de Pitanxo, a Galician fishing boat sank off the coast of Canada in mysterious circumstances. The families of 21 men who lost their lives that night are campaigning to ensure the truth of the tragedy is revealed and that those responsible face justice. Investigators have been trying to understand what caused the accident and surviving crew members have very different versions of what went wrong. Video, >click to watch< 10:49
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Spanish fishing tragedy survivors appear in court amid negligence claims
The survivors of Spain’s worst fishing tragedy in four decades appeared in court on Monday as part of an investigation into claims the boat’s captain was guilty of negligence. Twenty-one people died when the Villa de Pitanxo, a 50m vessel from the northwestern region of Galicia, sank around 450km off the coast of Newfoundland, in Canada, in February. Three of the 24-strong crew survived and were found floating in a life raft: the boat’s captain, Juan Padín, his nephew, Eduardo Rial, and Samuel Kwesi. Nine bodies were recovered. >click to read< 16:30
Southern Ocean Longliner Follows Successful Formula
A new Saint Helena-registered longliner is heading south to take part in the fishery for Patagonian toothfish in the Southern Ocean. Built for Spanish owners, F/V Polar Bay is the latest in a long series of longliners designed by Marin Teknikk and built at Tersan, and this has been shown to be a successful formula. Accommodation on board is completed to a high standard for a crew of up to 30, and F/V Polar Bay is designed to spend extended periods at sea when required as the fishery covers a variety of fishing grounds in the Southern Ocean. photos, video, >click to read< 17:48
Fuel: Entire Spanish fishing fleet to stay in port until next Wednesday 23
Basilio Otero, the president of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds, announced this Friday, March 18, that the Spanish fishing fleet will remain in port until next Wednesday 23. This action comes as a result of the “very serious moment” that the fishing sector is suffering after the rise in fuel prices. “The sustainability of the fishing sector right now is in your hands”, he warned the minister, from whom he has also demanded, “firm, forceful, and immediate proposals, or the fishing sector is going to sink”. >click to read< 08:42
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Spain holds memorial mass for sunken trawler victims
Spain’s King Felipe VI attended a memorial service yesterday for 21 sailors who died or are missing at sea after a Spanish fishing trawler sank last month in stormy waters off Canada. The king and his wife, Queen Letizia, shook hands and embraced relatives of the victims at the packed church service in the port of Marin in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia where the trawler was based. >click to read< 08:38
Due to high fuel costs, shortage of fresh fish anticipated in Andalucia
As Manuel Fernandez, president of the Andalucian Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds pointed out, there has been no agreement to stop the fleet in the region, but more and more boats are mooring up because they are unable to make ends meet, and the sale of fishing vessels is not profitable. According to sources in the sector, there are 1,700 fishing boats in Andalucia, with 5,000 seamen working on them. The high price of fuel is making their activity unprofitable, as the sale of the fish they catch is not enough to pay for diesel, wages and social security. “This Friday, a large part of the trawler fleet in the Gulf of Cadiz (which includes Huelva) has already stopped. Of the 82 purse seiners, only 14 are fishing. Of the 133 trawlers, 60 per cent are moored”, indicated Fernandez. >click to read< 10:19
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Repatriation of dead sailors stalled after bodies test positive for COVID-19
Some of the bodies of Spanish and Peruvian sailors who drowned in a shipwreck off Newfoundland’s coast last week are reportedly not being returned to their families right away because their corpses tested positive for COVID-19. The Spanish fishing vessel Villa de Pitanxo sank 460 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland on Feb 15. Three fishermen were rescued and nine bodies were recovered, with 12 still missing. Four of the bodies, including two Spaniards and two Peruvians, reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 after being recovered. >click to read< 11:07
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Manuel Navarro to his sister, “Don’t tell dad, this is hell, a very big storm”
“Don’t tell dad or mom, but this is hell, a very big storm,” José Manuel Navarro, the biologist at Villa de Pintaxo, told his sister Mónica last Saturday in what was his last communication before the shipwreck of the fishing boat, which occurred on Tuesday. Desperate for the lack of news, José Navarro, the father of the scientist on board, and Mónica, the sister, have asked the Government through Canarian Television to mobilize media to that area of the Atlantic, opposite Newfoundland, to search for the remains of the fishing boat and the missing crew members. >click to read< 07:57
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Deadly sinking of trawler blamed on main engine failure
A Spanish fishing trawler sank in stormy waters off Canada last week, leaving 21 sailors dead or missing, because its engine failed, the owner of the vessel said Monday. There were 24 people onboard the Villa de Pitanxo when it went down off the eastern coast of Canada early on Tuesday in Spain’s worst fishing tragedy in nearly 40 years. Padin has said the accident happened when the ship attempted to turn, the Nores Marin group, the company based in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia which owns the ship, said in a statement. “The main engine suddenly stopped, leaving the boat without propulsion or direction, exposed to the wind and the waves, suffering blows from the sea that caused it to tilt and sink very quickly,” >click to read< 16:16
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Survivors, bodies from sunken Spanish fishing vessel to be repatriated this week
Spanish officials arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday to begin the process of repatriating the survivors and the bodies recovered from the sinking of a Spanish fishing vessel. Deputy Premier Siobhan Coady greeted members of the flight crew after they arrived in the province. Meanwhile, Alfredo Martinez Serrano, the Spanish Ambassador to Canada, landed in St. John’s late Saturday afternoon. The Villa de Pitanxo fishing vessel sank in heavy seas off the coast of Newfoundland early Tuesday. >click to read< 08:11
Sole survivor of Galway Bay fishing tragedy among those feared drowned off Newfoundland
One of the fisherman feared dead when a Spanish fishing vessel sank off the Newfoundland coast earlier this week was the sole survivor of another maritime tragedy in Galway Bay over two decades ago. In October 2000, Ricardo Arias Garcia, a native of Marin in Spain, was plucked from the Skerd Rocks in outer Galway Bay by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter operating from Shannon. Last Tuesday, he was one of 24 crew on board the trawler Villa de Pitanxo when it sank 280 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in rough seas. Named by Spanish media as one of the fatalities, Mr Arias Garcia lost all of his fellow crewmates when the F/V Arosa sank in a storm off Galway Bay on October 3, 2000. >click to read< 11:06
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Fishing vessel arrives in St. Johns with three survivors and seven deceased crewmen
The F/V Playa de Menduíña II, in which three survivors and seven of the deceased of the F/V Villa de Pitanxo were traveling, docked at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday in the port of San Juan de Terranova (St John’s). On F/V Playa de Menduíña II traveled the survivors of the F/V Villa de Pitanxo, the skipper of the ship, Juan Padín; his nephew, Eduardo Rial Padín; and the young Ghanaian Samuel Kwesi. After carrying out the appropriate procedures, the three left the Vigo fishing boat after five o’clock in the afternoon, six hours after the arrival at the port. After going down to port, the three were taken to an area hospital for a medical check-up. >click to read< 17:31
The crew of the F/V Villa de Pitanxo, one by one: from Raúl, only 24 years old, to Francisco, of retirement age – Little by little, the identities of those who were on board the ship that sank in Newfoundland and their stories are becoming known. Most have young children and some, like Samuel, had not yet been able to meet their last baby. >click to read<
Pope Francis Laments ‘Tragic’ Shipwreck of F/V Villa de Pitanxo
“The Holy Father expresses his heartfelt condolences, as well as his solidarity, in these moments of sorrow.” The pope “prays to God for the eternal repose of the victims and expresses his closeness to the families who mourn their loved ones,” The Galicia-based trawler Villa de Pitanxo sank early Tuesday some 250 miles off the coast of Newfoundland with just three known survivors out of a crew of 24, making the disaster Spain’s worst fishing tragedy in 38 years. Current theories suggest that the ship, which was loaded with a good catch of halibut, was weighed down at the stern and, complicated by waves reaching eight meters in height, was flooded and sank in a matter of minutes. >click to read< 09:01
A Spanish fisherman’s life on the high seas: harsh, risky and badly paid
The tragedy, Spain’s worst fishing accident in nearly 40 years which claimed 21 lives and left only three survivors when their ship foundered in stormy waters off Newfoundland, has thrown into sharp relief the risks and harsh working conditions faced by fishermen. Often these deep-sea fishermen will spend months at sea, far from their families. “You’re away for so long: you go out to sea when your child’s just been born and when you come back, he’s already doing his first communion,” jokes Martínez as he takes a coffee at a bar popular with fishermen in Marín. He used to spend six-month stints at sea fishing for cod off Newfoundland but is currently not working after having a hernia operation. commercial fishing. >click to read< 14:04
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: survivors en route to Canadian port of St. John’s
Three survivors from a Spanish fishing trawler that sank hundreds of miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, were en route to this port city on Thursday amid stormy conditions. The Spanish vessel F//V Playa de Menduiña II that is transporting those survivors and seven of the recovered bodies is expected to arrive in St. John’s, capital of Newfoundland and Labrador province, on Saturday, the port authority told Efe. The remains of two other recovered bodies are being transported by the Canadian vessel Nexus, which is expected to reach that same port city on Friday. >click to read< 09:14
F/V Villa De Pitano: ‘Please keep looking’, families beg as hunt for Spanish shipwreck crew ends
“We have to keep looking for the bodies, we can’t leave 12 people stranded in the sea,” said John Okutu, uncle of Edemon Okutu, one of the crew members from Ghana who is among the missing. “If Canada can’t keep on looking, the Spanish must go, that’s what the families want,” he told journalists in Marín in the northwestern region of Galicia where the vessel was based. Standing at his side, Kevin Franco, the son of Regelio Franco, one of the missing Peruvians, agreed. >click to read< 09:15
Newfoundland: Search suspended for missing crew members of F/V Villa De Pitano
After a 36-hour search of the frigid North Atlantic waters, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre and the Canadian Armed Forces have suspended their search for the missing crew members who were onboard the sunken Spanish fishing vessel. “This is the end of an active search,” said Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens, a spokesman for the Halifax Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre via Zoom. “All vessels, all aircraft that were participating in this search and rescue have been returned to home base. The 24-member crew included 16 members from Spain, five from Peru, and three from Ghan. They were fishing in international waters, some 460 kilometres east of St. John’s, N.L. >click to read< 19:01
Mourning in Galicia following the loss of a trawler off Newfoundland: ten dead and eleven missing
The Xunta of Galicia, the government of the northeast of Spain will declare a day of mourning in the region following the sinking of the trawler F/V Villa de Pitanxo off Newfoundland, with the loss of ten lives and another eleven who remain missing. The tragedy occurred on Tuesday in the midst of a North Atlantic storm, and despite a huge rescue effort only three out of 24 crew members managed to survive under hypothermal conditions. Search operations are ongoing. Marine resources include three fishing vessels, an offshore supply ship, a coast guard vessel, and a Canadian navy frigate. Air resources include three helicopters rotating in and out depending on crew and fuel needs, two Hercules aircraft, and one PAL aircraft. >click to read< 07:59
Search continues off N.L. coast for 11 missing crew members of Spanish fishing vessel – Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax told CBC News on Wednesday morning the search and rescue effort is ongoing. >click to read<12:46
Nerja fishermen given 15-month jail sentence for catching thresher shark
Francisco Pastor comes from a long line of Nerja fishermen. At 50, he says he is going through an ordeal that “I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.” Since November 2020, he has been serving a sentence for having had “the bad luck” of catching a thresher shark, an endangered species,,, Pastor, who was sentenced along with his cousin, to 15 months in prison, along with a three year ban from fishing and a suspended fine of 386,000 euros for a crime against wildlife. “I need a job, whatever it is, because I can’t go out fishing with my boat, which was how I made a living until just over a year ago,” >click to read< 21:46
Tastes better
Every day it seems to become just a little more obvious that the future of the commercial salmon business is on land no matter what Alaskans might think about where the tastiest fish are to be found. This week the news is from northern Spain where a company named Norcantabric,,,On its website, the company boasts that its farm will produce salmon that are “fresh, reduces transport time up to 5 days; 100 percent natural, without antibiotics, free of toxins, heavy metals and other artificial materials, without hormones, without sea lice and free of parasites. There are long term implications here for an Alaska commercial fishing industry once the economic mainstay of the territory, and for decades after Statehood, the 49th state’s largest employer. >click to read< 16:50
Will Britain lose another fishing war?
On average, a fish in the North Sea crosses five territorial waters frontiers every day. They don’t have passports or face quarantine. Britain made a fool of itself during the three cod wars it fought with Iceland between 1956 and 1976. British fishermen decided these were “traditional” waters and the Royal Navy was sent in to try and intimidate the Icelandic fishing boats. Other than geo-thermal energy, banking and airlines, the main Icelandic product is cod. They depended on hauling cod of out the northern waters close to Arctic Circle — we looked absurd trying to stop them. Does a new fish war with France, the Netherlands, and Spain now loom? The problem arises partly from the 1982 UN Law of the Sea convention which extended territorial waters out to 200 km. >click to read< 10:09
Stranded at Sea in The Time of Coronavirus
Spanish fisherman Josu Bilbao boarded a Qatar Airways flight headed for the Seychelles in January, just as he had done for the past 15 years. Ahead of him, four uninterrupted months of hauling tuna out of the glistening Indian Ocean. As it turned out, catching the fish was the least of the problems for the 56-year-old captain of Albatun Tres, one of the world’s largest tuna fishing boats. The coronavirus then swept the world, countries shut borders, planes stopped flying and Spain became one of the countries worst hit by the virus. Bilbao and his crew were stuck. As the Indian Ocean fleet shift was extended ship owners tried to figure out a way to get workers home. Aboard the ship avoiding infection became the priority. >click to read< 09:43
