Death Of A Fisherman

The fisherman who died a few days ago was Joan Ramon Domingo. I knew nothing of him until I saw a photo on the newspaper, of a huge crowd of people at his funeral, as if he was a famous movie star or some known personality. In a way he was known to many. He was the vice president of the Fisherman's Association in Sitges, Barcelona.

He was only 58. On that fatal day last week he went out fishing alone as he had been doing for the last few months, when his son stopped being his assistant. His arm got caught by the wired cage for the catch and mortally injured him, in the middle of the night and in the middle of the sea.

The fishing industry had been going down fast in recent times, due to fewer young people willing to enter this very hard profession with little reward. With the imported foreign fish representing now 80% of the sale, leaving 20% only for their outlet. On top of that, the steadily increasing price of fuel to power their boats, higher costs of living and of all amenities, he had found it harder each day to keep up, that's why the son didn't come along any more; The meagre income of the catch simply couldn't justify 2 people's full time work. The combination of all that had cost his life.

Roses where I live now was mainly a fishing village in the past until the last 20 years, with the influx of tourists visiting, and many staying put for the nearly year round sun and fine weather. I used to find it very puzzling the fact that, although it's by the sea and the main industry was fishing, fish prices locally were so very high ( still are, more than meat ). It has become a luxury to have fish on the table, exactly the opposite as it was in the old days when meat was for the well off and fish for the poor.

When I was in Madrid for a 2 week vacation, the fish and all seafood there were much cheaper, yet Madrid is way up on the mountains, no sea anywhere near it at all. It was quite beyond my simple mind and total lack of business sense and logic, that a city on the mountain, with fish supplied by other seaside towns, Roses amongst them, could sell the same product at prices lower than that of the sources - the places where they came from! The answers I got with my endless questions asked of all who would listen were, that Roses had exported the major part of the catch to supply Madrid and other neighbour countries, leaving the local supply scarce!

Just as well I am not a businesswoman. My mind is too straight forward and logical for business strategies and commercial intrigues.

Tags:fisherman,businessstrategies

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