Fresh fish!

The fishing boats arrive to the fishing village of Port de Selva around 5pm most days. Once they arrive it is a mad scramble to sort each variety into separate boxes and then unload onto the quayside pallets for collection to the the Fisherman's Co-op and auction house (the Llotja) right next to the harbour. The auction process is rather unique as the participants sit on the tiered benches holding an electronic device which they push when they are interested in purchasing the full box of fish moving along the conveyor belt in front of them.The price is established by watching the electronic board which states the type of fish, boat on which it arrived, weight of the box and then a price per kilo which is the only changing part-the price starts at a high level and is falling continuously until one of the participants hits their button to establish the price at which they will buy that box. This is called a reverse auction since prices are falling not rising as in the traditional manner. Once that box has been bought an electronic ticket is generated which falls into the right box with all the buyers details and it is then covered with ice and stacked ready to be loaded at the end of the auction onto the waiting trucks for dispatch to the various fish markets around Girona Province or in Barcelona. The whole process from arrival of the boats to being bought and loaded onto trucks for its onward journey takes about an hour. In fact some fish are dropped off directly at restaurants that evening for a really fresh fish experience! This same process takes place at all the fishing ports on the Costa Brava and Palamos is probably where most fish is unloaded every day as they have the largest fleet of commercial boats based there. The other important point is proximity to population centres and Palamos is closer to the main Barcelona markets than Port de la Selva is.