Ferran Martínez is the major patron of the fishermen’s guild of Blanes. Since he was a child, the sea has captivated him, and since then, he finds it hard to step on solid ground. He claims that the sea gives him life. He tells us how they collaborate in the LIFE ECOREST project from this fishermen’s guild, one of the most active guild and with the greatest involvement from the fishermen.
How did you get started in the world of fishing?
My father had a small artisanal fishing boat, where I spent part of my time working as a fisherman from an early age. By the age of 16, I realized I liked it and decided to combine studies with work.
But it wasn’t until I was 18 that I realized this was my world, and to this day, I have been in the profession for 37 years.
What do you feel when you go out to fish?
Going out to the sea is pure enjoyment. When the weather is bad and I haven’t been able to go out for two or three days, I feel like a caged cat and I get grumpy. The sea gives me life.
For the last two years, I’ve been the major patron of the fishermen’s guild of Blanes, which involves some office work. But on the days I can go out to work, it’s a total disconnection to be able to enjoy the environment while I’m fishing. In my life, I have three passions: my wife, my daughter, and the sea.
How is the Blanes sea?
It’s a Mediterranean sea, without as much swell as in the Atlantic or the Pacific, but sometimes it’s virulent. It can be calm and in a few minutes the wind can come in with very strong gusts, capable of raising waves of up to four metres.
It’s also rich in a wide variety of fish species. This is due to the underwater canyon system. To make it clear to everyone, it would be like the Colorado Canyon, but under the sea. We leave the port and in less than 800 metres the canyon begins, reaching a depth of 2,000 metres with entrances and exits, which means that we have a great diversity of fish. The contributions of the rivers that flow into the canyon also contribute.
But climate change is making it increasingly common to find species that aren’t native to this area.
Are you worried about climate change?
The main issue in the sector is the Common Fisheries Policy. I wish they could come to the sea one day from Brussels to see if they can actually implement the ideas they have.
The other big issue we have is the increase in sea temperature, affecting the characteristics of phytoplankton, an essential part of the food pyramid in the sea as it’s the source on which many species of fish depend.
In addition, species we have never seen before, which are from warmer waters, are arriving, while the fish that have always lived there are moving to colder waters. Also, water temperature can change the sex of fish when they’re born and prevent algae and gorgonians from proliferating.
The scientific community is warning that the loss and deterioration of gorgonian forests could affect fishing. How do you value fishing reserves and projects such as LIFE ECOREST?
Within the project in which we collaborate, LIFE ECOREST, there are several marine reserves, some of them have been created by the administrations and others have a greater involvement because they have been co-managed on a voluntary way between scientists and fishermen. These reserves will yield results in a few years.
Fishermen, besides fishing, want to protect their environment because they depend on it, and if they don’t care of it, nobody will care either.
What is your role in the project?
We’re an important link in this project. The corals get tangled in the nets. In the past, fishermen would throw them back into the sea, but without knowing how to do it to ensure their survival.
Now we have aquariums on our boats where they put the bycatched specimens. Afterwards, they are moved to other aquariums on land, in the fishermen’s guilds, where scientists take care of them. Once there, they’re prepared for restoration using the ‘Badminton’ method, that consists of hooking the corals on rocks so, when they are returned to the sea, they fall upright on the seabed increasing their survival. Finally, when they are ready, they’re loaded onto our boats and the fishermen release them into the reserves we agreed previously.
When the scientists record the images with underwater robots, we’ll see if all the work is really paying off.
Which is the level of involvement of the fishermen’s guilds in the project?
In general, all the fishermen’s guilds in the area are quite involved. In Blanes, we’re in the Champions League, as I tell to our fishermen. Our guild is very involved and it’s among the most active guilds.
When there are bycatches, we report the data and place the species in the aquarium. The process is already well established and everyone is very involved.
Do you think that the implication of the sector in the restoration process of these organisms can have continuity after this LIFE project?
We have to work together, fishermen and scientists, to ensure continuity after the project, but the bases have been laid.
Also, the project has generated huge interest. We have visits from schools, who are very surprised to see the aquariums because they think that corals are only found in the Red Sea or in Australia. And we also have visits from other interested people. In fact, it has already aroused curiosity in the south of Andalusia, in the Alboran Sea, where they have certain problems with the recovery of these ecosystems.
One of the project’s objectives is to try to replicate the actions in other areas of the Spanish coast with other fishermen’s guilds, what message would you give them to get involved?
The first thing I would say is that it’s important to have a proper communication between fishermen and scientists. I would also encourage them to participate because it’s a constructive experience. We are in a marine reserve where fish grow and move to nearby areas where we can fish, and these organisms help to provide more wildlife. The results will be determined, but I would encourage them to participate by explaining our experience.
How do you see the fishing industry’s future?
In the last 20 years I’ve seen the fleet halved, which means that there are fewer boats and less fishing effort nowadays. In addition, with very restrictive regulations in place, the number of days that boats can go out to fish has been greatly reduced. The fishing sector, the main pillar of the project, with the new restrictions from the European Commission, is in risk of disappearing. Without the fishermen, the LIFE ECOREST project can’t be carried out.
The fishing sector is often blamed for the overexploitation of marine resources, whereas our methods and techniques are advancing and are more selective.
We must also add the decrease in both catches and their price in contrast to the rise in daily costs and living standards, which means that the profitability of the sector is decreasing.
Finally, the industry is getting older and older and there is no attraction for young people to become fishermen. The average age of the workers we have in this guild is around 55. It’s a vocational profession. Here we have members of up to the fifth and sixth generation, who are the ones who push the guild forward. But I think we’ll get by. They say that this is a world of madmen touched by the tramontana and, for madmen like us, this is the lottery.