Even back in 2005 Motril fishing docks were lined with trawlers and other classing of fishing boats, employing hundreds of fishermen, which in turn provided employment in the ports fish market (lonja) where the catches were auctioned off.

Today is a far cry. The closure of Moroccan fishing grounds to Spanish boats, the economic crisis that began in 2008, the EU cuts to fishing quotas whittled away at the number of boats operating out of the port. This led to the large wholesale buyers dropping Motril Port for other ones, such as Santa Pola in Valencia.

Between the year 2000 and 2014 the fishing sector lost 60% of its fishing boats leaving the port with just 30 boats and 120 people in direct employment with the sector, which if you compare with the 800 people that there were before, you get a clear picture of the attrition.

But fishermen are used to weather storms and remaining afloat so with the old fishing grounds recuperating thanks precisely to those quota cuts, there is hope on the horizon. Consequently, the first six months of the year saw income maintained, equalling last year; 2.3m euros earnt through the catch auction despite the boats working fewer hours.

Furthermore, the combination of bigger catches and fewer hours using up fuel out to sea is clawing back profitability: in those six months they sold 472.672 kilos of catch compared with the 2021 figures, which were 529.699 kilos.

In short, the sector is braving the crisis and has suffered no economic loss despite the fact that fuel costs double what it did last year… literally – last year it cost 7,000 euros to fill up and this year its 14,000 euros.

(News: Motril, Costa tropical, Granada, Andalucia)