I read with joy that, finally, at the end of this year, the Port of Barcelona will begin construction of the new Fish Market in Port Vell. The new facility will be built next to the Clock Tower, next to the current market, and as a main novelty, it will have an elevated walkway from where citizens and, of course, tourists will be able to follow the fish auction. A restaurant is also planned to open – let's hope it specializes in zero-kilometer fish and seafood at prices that are not a rip-off. 8 million euros will be invested in the project and the work will last about a year and a half.
The new fish market should serve as a boost for a sector not sufficiently taken into account by a city that boasts of having opened up to the sea since the Olympic transformation. It is very good that Barcelona promotes itself touristically as a beach city, but it should also proudly reclaim its seafaring or, more specifically, fishing character.
In fact, I have the feeling that the fishing footprint has been disappearing from the city. Largely due to tourist pressure, especially in Barceloneta. It is true that in this neighborhood of undeniable seafaring and fishing tradition there are some good fish restaurants left, but you have to look for them among dozens of terrible quality establishments that serve paellas that are a disgrace. Being a neighborhood by the sea, I miss those lifelong restaurants where at the entrance they display the fish and seafood of the day on a bed of ice and which you still so often find in cities like Istanbul or Naples.
The enormous transformation that the Port of Barcelona has undergone in recent decades – a shopping and leisure center, parking for large luxury yachts of more than suspicious fortunes – has also contributed to making the presence of the city's fishing boats practically invisible to most Barcelonans.
However, the few fishermen who still work in the capital refuse to become a museum piece. To avoid being swallowed by the Barcelona of the service sector, some are also trying to reinvent themselves as a kind of tourist attraction, and they are right to try. Years ago, fishermen from Barceloneta invented an experience around the Barcelona prawn. They offered to accompany you fishing in the Garraf fishing grounds and round off the day with a good plate of freshly caught fish. On one occasion – at an event I think organized by the Barcelona Fishermen's Guild itself to promote this product – while sipping the head of a prawn caught that same day, a fisherman from Barceloneta explained to me that the prawns they brought had nothing to envy the famous Palamós prawns. I can confirm that certainly the Barcelona prawn, if it can be called that, was delicious.
I also think it's a shame that Barcelona doesn't have a large fish and seafood market in the middle of the city like the wonderful and bustling Noryangjin in Seoul. Located on the south bank of the Hangang River, not far from Yongsan Station, it is one of the largest in the South Korean capital. Fishmongers and restaurateurs usually go to Noryangjin in the early morning, but during the rest of the day it's a non-stop stream of private customers looking for all kinds of marine delicacies: fish, seafood, seaweed... There are all kinds – to Western eyes, very strange and in some cases sinister-looking or directly disgusting – and all or practically all alive in large saltwater aquariums, so much so that at some point you almost don't know if you're in a market or in the Aquarium. What a spectacle. For the tourist, fortunately scarce, it is an ideal place to gawk and, of course, to treat oneself. One of Noryangjin's attractions is that once you decide on the fish or seafood you fancy most, they kill and clean it right there, and in the restaurants upstairs, they cook it to your liking. I went a few years ago and I remember that, among other fish and seafood that I wouldn't be able to identify, I ate an enormous crustacean that seemed to be from another planet. A priori, it wasn't too tasty, but appropriately seasoned it turned out to be a delight.
Fishing and fishermen are part of Barcelona's past and present. It would be good if they were also in the future.