30/03/2005 00:00
TW
0

by Staff Reporter
LOCAL fishermen will offer their catches to restaurants and general public from today, as the conflict with the wholesale buyers continues.
Miquel Angel Calviño, the director general of fisheries, has called both sides together for another meeting today.
For the fishermen, he proposes a minimum starting price for each species at the auction. For the wholesalers, he will ask for them to be informed of the size of the catch, to help them in the bidding.

Meanwhile, Bernat Bonet, president of Opmallorcamar, which is in charge of operations at the fish exchange, said that they had been unable to sell to the general public yesterday afternoon, which left dozens of people disappointed.

But starting today at 9.30am and the same time every morning from Tuesdays to Saturdays, and at 6.30pm Mondays to Fridays, the fish exchange in Palma, at the docks, will be open to the general public, so that they can buy fresh fish after the corresponding auction.

Opmallorcamar is seeking a new market for locally-caught fish after the failure of Monday's negotiations with the fish wholesalers, although talks are still in progress between the two sectors.

The wholesalers and retailers decided not to buy fish at the Palma exchange until a barrier preventing access to the room where the fish was prepared for auction is removed.

But the fishermen insist that the barrier will not be removed, even though they remain open to negotiations.
This was decided at a tense two hour meeting attended by 80 per cent of the fishermen who operate in local waters.
The wholesalers had proposed opening the barrier from 4 to 4.30am, to see the amount of fish which had been caught, but without touching it.
Francisco Bauza, the spokesman for the wholesalers and retailers, said that the fishermen's refusal to raise the barrier came as no surprise, but confirmed that they would not buy fish at the exchange until it was raised.

In the meantime, they will increase their orders from Valencia and Barcelona, but this will not have repercussions on the prices. He claimed to have the full support of shoppers and are only concerned about the quality of the fish.