O Grove Fishmarket

About this heritage

The fish market is a building in the Port of O Grove next to the municipal market and very close to the town’s centre. It can be reached on foot or by car.

It is where the very first sale of all the fishing and shellfishing products takes place, all managed by the Fishermen's Guild "San Martín" of O Grove (Cofradía de Pescadores “San Martín” de O Grove).

The market is open on weekdays and provides service to both suppliers and customers. So seafarers and shellfish workers can take their freshly caught products there and sell them to the wholesalers.

The day begins at 11:00 a.m. The fishing product is weighed, labelled and placed in boxes for subsequent auction. The auction of the Fish Market of O Grove takes place in the afternoon and has the following time schedules:

• 15:30 h.: Auction of sea urchin, razor shells and razor clams.

• 16:00 h.: Auction of clams and cockles.

• 17:00 h.: Auction of barnacles, shrimp, crab and spider crab.

• 17:30 h.:.Auction of bay scallops, octopus and fish in general.

The Guild has its own point of sale, the "San Martiño" fish market. This has been operating since 2009 in order to sell directly to the consumer under a quality brand denominated Baixura Galega and, in this way, make a profit on the product and not have to depend on intermediaries.

You can also have the opportunity of learning first-hand how the auction is carried out, with guided visits at this fish market in O Grove and also experience how the fish and seafood are caught, as the Fishermen's Guild of "San Martín" offers the possibility of experiencing an authentic day at sea with the help of sea professionals. Pescanatur is the name by which these sea tourism activities are known, which take place all year round.

To learn more

The Fishermen's Guild "San Martín" is a public and non-profit corporation that, since 1980, acts as a consultative and collaborative body with the Administration in the promotion of the fishing, shellfish and aquaculture sector, also representing the economic and corporate interests of professionals in the sector.

The territorial scope of the guild in terms of shellfish is very extensive, covering an area between Punta Borrelo, in the municipality of Cambados, and Punta Faxilda, in the municipality of Sanxenxo. This is why entity hosts sea professionals from four different municipalities in the region of O Salnés (O Grove, Cambados, Meaño and Sanxenxo).

Inshore fishing is developed inside the estuaries where there are 15 metre-long boats, but it is also done outside the estuary where they would use larger boats.

The sailors of O Grove dedicated to inshore fishing, mostly do this within the Arousa estuary.

The members of the Guild of O Grove are grouped into different sectors, according to the product they extract from the sea.

For instance, the on foot shellfishing where clams and cockles are collected from under the sand; on sea shellfishing: the same items are fished, but from small boats using a fishing skill called basket raking.

A specific resource which is divided between those fetching razor clams and sea urchins by surface snorkelers diving from small boats and those collecting barnacles from the rocks, either on foot of from boats

And inshore fishing where they fish all kinds of fish and seafood from large boats and with different fishing gear such as nets or traps.

To know it better

O Grove, in the province of Pontevedra, is a municipality that is characterized by fishing, mussel and shellfish farming.

The Lonja de O Grove, in Galician Lonxa, is where the fish and seafood caught in this same municipality and throughout the Ría de Arousa is auctioned. Each fishing port has a fish market where professionals of the sea are obliged to first sell their products. Given its importance for the local economy, this place also becomes a meeting place for traders.

The building that houses the fish market of O Grove attracts the attention of visitors on their arrival at the port of Grove. The large dimensions of this building, made up of many arches, and its striking sign, do not go unnoticed. This fish market is managed by fishermen and fisherwomen who form the "Cofradía de pescadores "San Martín" de O Grove". The members who are part of it are grouped depending on the type of product collected from the sea.