At the 2011 Billingsgate School Sustainable Seafood Award the Spanish entry shocked the event with their 20 percent loss to birds. But Miguel Medialdea, of the Veta La Palma “farm” said they were delighted with their partner-birds’ catch. He added that millions of migrating and 600,000 resident birds were key in re-working and maintaining what had been a vast 11,000ha, dried out, waste marshland.
Miguel, co-presenting with UK distributor Laky Zervudachi of Direct Seafoods, told that they bought the derelict marshland in 1982, part of southern Spain’s Doñana National Park on the Guadalqavir estuary. He informed that the fish and birds thrive on natural algae and marine organisms refreshed by the rich Guadalqavir pumped water. There is a hi-tech hatchery and nursery, no bycatch, no fishmeal pellets – just algae-based winter feed boosts.
