The boats in San Pedro del Pinatar catch «around 300 kilos of this seafood per day».
The chief skipper of the fishermen’s guild of San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia), José Blaya, has calculated that the catches of prawns in the Mar Menor, in the middle of the second annual fishing season for this crustacean, are «very good» with quantities that «are around 300 kilos per day», figures that are close to those recorded in seasons «prior to the episodes of anoxia».
All this despite a very hesitant start to the closed season, which Blaya described as «fatal» because, in the first few months, «barely six kilos were caught in 20 days».
In addition, the prices in the fish market are going well, with values ranging between 25 and 35 euros depending on the size and quantity obtained.
Blaya himself acknowledged to Europa Press his doubts about the start of the Mar Menor prawn season «we thought that the anoxia in May was going to affect us», but the skipper confirmed that catches of this emblematic species from the Mar Menor «have recovered».
However, other fisheries in the Mar Menor are facing opposite results for the fishermen of the Cofradía de San Pedro del Pinatar.
Blaya has estimated «a 50 percent drop» in the fishing of sea bass and sea bream in the waters of the salt lagoon. This is a generalised problem for other species and the Cofradía is not sure «if it is due to the state of the Mar Menor or simply because the fish come and go».
With regard to the ‘streak’ of sea bream, which covers the months of September, October and November, Blaya has assured that it was «very bad», with about half the number of catches compared to other years when this fish performed well in the pinatarense fish market.
