Turismo Miño
The importance of good nutrition
Fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants contain essential nutrients for a healthy diet. They also have a strong cultural heritage and a long culinary tradition.
Seafood is an essential part of the local shopping basket. Fish, shellfish and molluscs are very important elements in our diet and, due to their nutritional value, they are recommended in any diet.
If we focus on Spain, we see that Galicia, with its privileged location on the map, has one of the main sources of marine wealth. It is one of the great fishing protagonists due to the variety, quantity and quality of the products found in its waters
International Year of Fisheries and Aquaculture
The UN has declared 2022 the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, with the aim of highlighting this type of activity, which is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.
The slogan chosen by the UN is very significant: "Small scale, big value".
Committed confraternities
The guilds carry out a demanding craft that allows them to extract resources in a way that respects the environment, using traditional hand tools. Their commitment to the protection of biodiversity and environmental sustainability is absolute.
The artisan workers of the sea are responsible for extracting the raw material for the delicacies that we receive on our tables, the same ones that make Galicia a world leader in gastronomy.
The fishermen's guilds work every day to ensure that fishing and shellfishing are as environmentally friendly as possible:
- They protect the marine environment, its biodiversity and the marine ecosystem.
- They apply a common extractive policy, which favours respect and competition among its members.
The Galician estuaries are extremely rich and the fishermen's associations are in charge of their custody so that we can always enjoy them
Miño, the privilege of having its own confraternity
Miño has the privilege of having a fishermen's guild in its municipality with excellent shellfishing areas.
It acts for the conservation, analysing the biological resources available, setting quotas, limiting the number of extractions, and respecting the juveniles or the species not allowed, collaborating with all this in a sustainable future for its territory and its population.
The Miño fishermen's association is one of the smallest in the region. It is made up of around 25 members from the municipalities of Miño, Paderne, Betanzos and Bergondo, who live mainly from shellfishing (mainly on foot, with some floating and a small representation from small fishing boats), with fishing activity being practically minimal.
The incredible wealth of our estuary
The species on offer are:
In the case of bivalves: Fine clam (Ruditapes decussatus), slimy clam (Ruditapes phillippinarum), cockle (Cerastodermaedule), Curly oyster (Crassostrea gigas).
In the case of polychaetes or live bait: Diopatra neapolitana and Arnicola marina.
Within the territory of Minho, this entity exploits the following shellfish beds:
Banco de Bañobre(Gal 04-06), Ponte do Porco e Alpompor (Gal 04-01), praia das Vacas e Porto - Praia de Ribeira ou Pequena (Gal 04-01), also having exploitation areas in the councils of Paderne and Bergondo.
Its main functions include the cleaning and aeration of the substrate of the shellfish beds, the transfer of species from areas of high density to others with a lower density, sowing (mainly clams), extractive activity, and control by sampling of health and toxins.
Craftsmanship
The gears used in these extraction banks are: for shellfishing on foot, the sacho (hoe) and the rañica (foot track), for shellfishing afloat, the raño (track), for polychaetes, salt and forquita (fork).
The minimum sizes for marketing are: 40 mm. for the fine clam, 38 mm for the slim clam, 35 mm for the Japanese clam, 25 mm for the cockle and 60 mm for the curly oyster. In the case of live bait, as there were no stipulated minimum sizes, it was decided by the assembly not to catch those smaller than 3 grams.
Miño, the only confraternity with a live bait nursery.
Polychaetes or live bait are sold directly to bait companies and private fishermen. The Miño fishermen's association has a live bait nursery to keep them in optimum condition until they are sold. It has been in operation since 2006, and is the only fishermen's guild in the region with these facilities.
