It was from this port in Galicia (northwestern Spain) that the "Villa de Pitanxo" left, which sank overnight from Monday to Tuesday in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, at 450 kilometers off the coast of the island of Newfoundland.

Of the 24 crew members, only three survived.

Nine bodies have been found and twelve sailors are missing in the worst tragedy in Spain's fishing industry in almost 40 years.

In the port of Marín, fishermen discuss their working conditions and the mediocrity of their wages, in a region through which transits 10% of the fresh fish transported to the European Union, according to local authorities.

"The head of the family is the mother"

"It's very hard, very painful", comments Jerónimo Martínez, 51, who drinks a coffee at "Castro", a bar in the "Virgen del Mar" (Virgin of the Sea) district where fishermen have their habits. .

Sinking of a Spanish trawler off Canada Emilie BICKERTON AFP

"Before, at least, we paid you" correctly, whereas "now, we pay you almost nothing", he laments.

One of his colleagues mentions the 1,500 euros net per month that a fisherman would earn on average.

"You go away so long that if you leave when your child is born, when you come back, he makes his first communion," jokes Mr. Martínez, who has two children aged four and three.

He explains that he sometimes went on six-month cod fishing trips near Newfoundland until a recent operation for a hernia forced him to stop for the moment.

"Among the majority of fishermen, the head of the family is the mother, because she is the one who is at home. The fathers are all at sea", continues Mr. Martínez, who has lost his phalanx of a finger during an accident on board.

Former Senegalese fisherman Makhtar Diahkate in Marin, Spain, February 17, 2022 MIGUEL RIOPA AFP

Makhtar Diakhate, 64, originally from Dakar and who has lived in Marín since 2004, says he only saw his wife and two sons once a year, who remained in Senegal.

"I felt bad, because sometimes there were worries (at home) and I couldn't help," says Makhtar, who has worked all his life on fishing boats and is now retired.

"The sea is the sea"

In Marín, as in the other Galician ports, there are fishermen from other African countries, especially Ghana, but also from South America, primarily Peru, because many young people in the region no longer want to do this work," says Fran Sola.

The crew of the "Villa Pitanxo" consisted of 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians.

"Young Spaniards prefer to be masons: they earn the same, or even more, and at 9 p.m. they are at home with their families," explains Mr Sola, 49, who gave up fishing at the age of 26 years old and now works as a mechanic.

Fishing boat accidents around the world Sylvie HUSSON AFP

At sea, "you have to work every day, do 60 hours a week, there is no respect for the employee, you do what the boss tells you to do", he continues.

"Twenty years ago, you went to sea and five years later, you could buy a house and a car", but now it's over, he says.

"Working at sea is a bit dangerous, but you have to do it," adds John Okutu, whose nephew Edemon is one of 12 crew members of the "Villa de Pitanxo" missing.

Several members of this Ghanaian family work in Marín in the fishing sector.

If they all insist on the difficulty of the work, these sailors agree that tragedies like that of the "Villa de Pitanxo" are now extremely rare, in particular thanks to the progress made possible by technology.

"You are more afraid that something will happen to you on the boat," says Jerónimo Martínez, who recalls, however, that "you can never be sure of anything, because the sea is the sea".

© 2022 AFP