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Fish is a nutritious and healthy food. If it is in season, it can be found at affordable prices, and can be cooked easily and quickly. However, fish consumption at home shows a continuous decline since 2008. Only in the last decade has consumption gone from 27 kg to 18 kg per person. The drop is especially significant in the last three years, with a decrease in sales of 25%, mainly due to the rise in inflation.
Now, the reduction in consumption of this food product is also explained by a change in habits and routines in families, who spend less time cooking, and also by a lack of generational change in fish consumers. To promote the consumption of fish, the Conselleria d’Acció Climàtica, Alimentació i Agenda Rural has launched this December the dissemination campaign “Pim, pam, peix!” .
The objective is to raise awareness about the benefits of eating fresh fish, and specifically caught sustainably on the Catalan coast. And at the same time demystify erroneous beliefs and stereotypes such as the idea that it is an expensive option or that its preparation is complicated.
In Catalonia, more than 200 different species of fish and seafood are caught and marketed each year, but, according to surveys carried out, on average a consumer knows a maximum of five, and recognizes that in general they always buy the same fish. Proof of this is that in 2022 a total of 67,457 thousand kg of fresh fish were consumed in Catalonia, and of these, hake and salmon represent 16% each, cod and sea bream 8% each, anchovy 7% and sea bass 6%. That is, only six species, mostly from outside Catalonia, represent more than 61% by volume of the total consumed.
However, there are also other fish species on the market such as blue whiting, white bream, bogue or mackerel that are more affordable, with excellent nutritional properties, and which unfortunately are not sufficiently known by consumers.
In addition, there are other notable local species such as mussels and bonito, mainly from the Roses, Palamós and Arenys de Mar markets; the canana, mainly from the markets of Rápita, Almendra de Mar and Cambrils; the white shrimp, which is mainly concentrated in the fish market of l’Ametlla de Mar and those around it; the white octopus, abundant along the entire coast but mainly in the Vilanova i la Geltrú fish market up to the Cases d’Alcanar; and the anchovy, distributed along the coast but especially emblematic in the fish markets of L’Escala and Blanes.
This product, in addition to being fresh, has the added value of proximity from an environmental point of view. When we eat fish from our coasts we are favoring and promoting responsible and sustainable fishing, local, mile 0 fishing.
Regarding prices, for example, the canana in the market is €4.2/kg and the white octopus is €4.80/kg, prices considerably lower than the average of €7.58/kg for the whole group. of its biological group, which would also include rock octopus, squid and cuttlefish… Similarly, mackerel, with a market price of €2.14/kg, is much more affordable than very similar species such as tuna and bonito, with a price of €6.97/kg.
Finally, when buying fish it is important to know what is the best time to consume certain species, at a price that is more affordable for your pockets because they are more abundant. For example, the month of December is the season for hake, bonito, squid, galley, cuttlefish and sole.
If the sector finally achieves the claimed reduction in VAT on fishing products, which for now has been left out in the recent modification of state regulations, a recovery in the consumption of fishing products is to be expected.
