Things have changed a lot in recent years; we’ve seen it in a short space of time, both in the number of vessels docked and in the fish being auctioned. Vessels with gillnets now make up a large part of the fleet, and gillnets hake is currently taking up a large portion of the sales space at the fish market.

In a generally turbulent geopolitical scenario, with rising costs, crews stretched to the limit due to a lack of generational change, a downward trend in fish consumption, etc., and more recently with the entry into force of the 87 closed seasons on all bottom fishing off the cliffs of Spain, Portugal, France, and Ireland (which entails the closure of no less than 16,400 square kilometers of fishing grounds), the profitability and competitiveness of our vessels has once again been jeopardized.

Resilience is the new word to define something we’ve been doing for years: adapting to different scenarios because our goal is clear and obvious: we want to continue fishing and supplying the highest-quality products to our citizens. The latest step in this “resilience” has been adapting the fleet with changes in fishing methods, from longline to gillnets.

In 2021, before the 87 fishing bans came into effect, our members included four gillnets boats and 14 longline boats. Three years later, at the end of 2024, the fleet associated with Puerto de Celeiro OPP-77 dedicated to catching hake was already composed of eight gillnets boats and nine longline boats; Of these nine, two are in the process of changing to gillnets.

Another notable change is the way we sell hake. While a few years ago it was sold in pieces, that is, as whole hake, packaged and filleted hake now represents a large part of the product we sell through Novomar. Customers ask for it, and we deliver.