History of Palamós harbor: Development, associationism and migration

Abstract

From minimum dimensions at the end of the 19th century, the fishing sector of Palamós (Catalonia, NW Mediterranean Sea) has grown until becoming one of the main ports of Catalonia and an important element of identity of the town. From the first half of 20’s collectives of immigrants from different points from the Spanish Mediterranean arrived at Palamós and introduced technological improvements. It involved an important increase of catches and productivity of the sector along the century. Especially during the Dictatorship period the local fleet grew as the harbour infrastructures improved, arrived immigration from the south of Spain and routes of financing for the fishing development were well established, thanks largely to the action of the local fishermen’s “cofradia”. Nevertheless, during the last decades it has been seen more and more affected by the successive ecological, social and economic crises that suffers the Mediterranean fishing on the whole. These crises worse at local level when the specie that sustains the economy of the sector disappears: the red shrimp.