Diving into the sea with MEWE SPACE!

At the beginning of October the two classes of fifth grade went to the port of our city, Vilanova i la Geltrú. The port of Vilanova is one of the most important ports in Catalonia. Every year, 80 tonnes of fresh fish arrive at their store where merchants buy it and they are transported throughout Catalonia. When the boats return to port, the fruits of their efforts pass through the fish market, where all the catches are auctioned.
On that autumn day we learned how a fishing port works, the harsh life of the sailors, discovered the different fishing techniques and what type of fish and seafood they fish: puncture sprig, stinging, conger eel, hake, sardine, shrimps…
Finally we ate a “Fideuá” cooked with fresh fish just arrived at the fish market. Here is the recipe. It was very nice!

INGREDIENTS:
– Fine noodles
– ½ dozen peeled garlic
– 1 cuttlefish
– 1 dozen of clams
– 1 litre of fish stock
– 1 glass of white wine

PREPARATION:
– Put a little of olive oil in a pan and golden brown a clove of garlic.
– Use the same oil to gently fry the cuttlefish. Leave it to cook for a few minutes over low heat and remove it.
– Take some oil from the pan, and put the noodles on a low heat until golden brown. (be careful not to burn).
– Add the fish stock, the cuttlefish, the clams, and add the white wine. Cook on medium heat.
– When the noodles have sucked up all the water, turn off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

BON APPETIT!!!!

Last November the children of 5th grade went to the “Espai Far”, which is the city’s sea museum. There, we met a group of boys and girls from the Baix-Mar Secondary school and explained to our students the following topics:
– Type of fishing gear used: trail bait, surrounding nets, ceramic pots, fishing rods, hooks, spear fishing, netting, long line fishing, lobster pots, bottom trawling, etc….
– Different boats in Vilanova’s port according with the type of fish: Tresmalls (14), longline (6), seafood boats (6), cloïssers (15), surrounding nets (8), minor dredging (6), major dredging (19).
– Fish that are found in our coastal area: bonito fish, crabs, sea snails, langoustines, scorpionfish, prawns, sea bass, pelaya fish, monkfish, mackerel, anchovy, cuttlefish…
– Fishing grounds: observation and identification of the different fishing grounds using maps of our coastal area. “Fons de Cubelles”, el “Fons de “Cunit”, el “Fons del Pedruel”, la “Caroba”, “La Trencada de fora Roques”…