The Calant Xarxes Alliance brings together fishers from all the islands to strengthen the marketing, traceability, and sustainability of fish and seafood

Representatives of the fishers guilds of Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza took part in the workshop Development of collective brands for Balearic seafood products, organised by the Calant Xarxes Alliance. During the event, they shared their experiences, giving first-hand knowledge of the initiatives on each island to improve the marketing, traceability, and sustainability of fish and seafood in the Balearic Islands.  

Fishers from the guilds of Maó, Fornells, and Ciutadella, attended the workshop, with the collaboration of Domingo Bonnín, President of the Federació Balear de Confraries de Pescadors (Balearic Federation of Fishermen's Guilds), and Xavi Marqués, skipper of the Ciutadella guild and Vice-President of the Balearic Federation. Marqués stressed the importance of raising awareness of local produce and assessing the possibility of creating a collective brand in Menorca to promote it: ‘It's worth setting it up to raise awareness of local produce and differentiate it from that which comes from abroad among end consumers and restaurants’, he said.  

Elisa Martínez, coordinator of the Calant Xarxes Alliance; Marga Serra, secretary of the Ibiza Fishermen's Guild; and Marcial Caracena, commercial director of OPmallorcaMar, also took part in the workshop. The three of them shared their work to explore marketing alternatives to enhance the value of Menorcan seafood and strengthen the promotion of restaurants committed to its commercialisation. 

 

The Millor quín brand 

Marcial Caracena, commercial director of OpmallorcaMar, presented the example of the development of the Millor quín brand, detailing the certification requirements for both restaurants and fishing boats in Mallorca. As he pointed out, ‘Millor quín has made it possible to highlight the value of fish caught by Mallorcan fishing vessels that guarantee responsible and traceable fishing all the way to the end consumer. Thanks to our collaboration with the Calant Xarxes Alliance, we have developed a joint action plan to unite all the stakeholders involved - boats, restaurants and fishermen, among others - in a project capable of raising the profile of sustainable, traceable, local seafood.’ 

  

Ibiza: the Peix Nostrum example  

For her part, Marga Serra shared the main challenges and advantages in the development of the Peix Nostrum brand. ‘The collective brand helps to revalue and differentiate the local product [...] Individual identification is not only a way of guaranteeing traceability, but it can also be used as a quality mark, in our case including the Sabors d'Eivissa label of the Consell Insular d'Eivissa, which favours the demand for the identified product.’ 

 

The Calant Xarxes Alliance 

Elisa Martínez, coordinator of the Calant Xarxes Alliance, presented its objectives and main lines of action. Martínez stressed: ‘This workshop is a space where we can get to know each other, identify needs and share experiences, seeking ways of collaboration to move towards improvements in the sustainability and marketing of Balearic seafood products.’ 

Martínez also highlighted the importance of collective labels, certifications, traceability systems, and other forms of differentiation of fish products that come from fisheries that are moving towards sustainability: ‘They are all tools that can help generate value for their commercialisation in hotels and restaurants, considering the existence of increasingly aware consumers, who demand quality, traceable and environmentally friendly products.’ 

This initiative is supported by the TUI Care Foundation.