Andre Colonese speaks about the history of fishing at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona

Under the title "Maritime Ethnohistory for the Future of Our Seas and Oceans", the event, held on 9 March, brought together prominent professionals and academics from different disciplines who presented ongoing research focused on the historical perspective of maritime fishing and fish consumption.

Throughout the day, the various presentations focused on the role of history and anthropology in providing answers to the difficult challenges facing the world's seas and oceans. Discussions focused on changes in the concept of fishermen over the centuries, the difficulties of studying the ecological impact of traditional fisheries, the role of states in dismantling community networks, the limited presence of women in the discourse of history and heritage, and the presence of fish products in food systems past and present, among other topics of interest.

The day concluded with a call to break down the boundaries between natural, social and human sciences in order to understand the complexity of maritime communities, to integrate all processes of the fish value chain into the analysis, and to decisively promote multidisciplinarity, collaboration and networking in order to advance knowledge of the history of maritime societies.

The seminar also resulted in a commitment to promote new actions by the Salvador Riera Network to strengthen collaboration and disseminate ongoing research in the history and anthropology of fishing. The aim is to organise a new seminar in 2026.

The seminar's organization was coordinated by Alfons Garrido, from the Msueu dela Pesca de Palamós, and Sílvia Gómez, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and had the support of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, the Maritime Studies Chair (University of Girona - Promediterràmia Foundation), the group of Anthropology of Seas and Ocean (Catalan Institute of Anthropology), and SeaPeoplesLab-GRAFO (Autonomous University of Barcelona).