🌊 A STORY ROOTED IN THE SEA AND TIME
This story comes from far away, from Celts, Romans, Maragatos, and Catalans.
We are in Kallaikoi territory, present-day Galicia. Along the coast, fishermen bring in the day’s catch. On the shore, women, children, and even elders gather around, giving thanks to Nubeiro, the Celtic deity of storms, lightning, and mist, for sparing them once again.
The fish is quickly collected in baskets and carried up to the castro, the ancient hillfort. There, it is carefully prepared as tradition dictated for centuries. First, the fish is gutted and split open, then coated with a crust of salt — seawater dried under the sun — and hung by the tail. This small Celtic community follows its ancestral wisdom.
🏺 ROMAN SALTING TRADITION
Later on, the Romans arrived in Gallaecia and settled near the castros. They were interested in producing and trading garum or liquamen, a highly valued product throughout the Empire, obtained from the fermentation of oily fish cured under the sun with salt and other ingredients such as herbs, vinegar, water, oil, or wine. This fermented condiment was widely used both in Roman cuisine and medicine.
For this purpose, they needed abundant oily fish and salt — both of which this coastline offered in abundance. The production of garum became one of the most profitable businesses of the Roman Empire, alongside oil and wine, all produced here for export.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Arabs, Jews, and Visigoths continued the tradition of salted fish consumption. However, it is believed that Christianity played a key role in sustaining this industry, due to Lent and the prohibition of eating meat.
🚚 THE MARAGATOS AND THE TRADE ROUTES
With the Maragatos came the inland trade of salted fish.
The Maragatos, an ancient travelling community from the Maragatería region in León, had been transporting goods between the northwest coast and the interior of Spain since at least the 18th century. Using carts and mules, they carried salt and fish to Madrid and brought goods back to the coast. Their name is believed by some to come from “mar a gatos” — from the sea to the “cats” (a nickname for Madrid’s inhabitants) — although its exact origin remains uncertain.
🌊 THE RECENT HISTORY: FISHING AS SURVIVAL
In the early 17th century, Muros was devastated by the French. The town was destroyed and fell into poverty. Once again, the estuary became its salvation.
Fishing remained the backbone of survival. Despite everything, the importance of the Muros estuary never faded. By the late 18th century, it attracted foreign industrialists, mainly from Cantabria and Catalonia, who introduced a new model of maritime exploitation closely linked to ports, ships, and trade.
New salting techniques such as pressing, and later the development of the canning industry, transformed traditional ways of working with the sea. From early on, tensions arose as large-scale industry threatened small local producers. The so-called “fomentadores” — Catalan industrial promoters — drove the economic expansion of Galicia’s coastal industry, marking the transition towards canning and a major economic boom that continued into the 20th century.
⚓ OVEREXPLOITATION AND DECLINE
The estuary became filled with factories and boats, and what once looked like prosperity eventually turned into collapse. Lack of control led to overexploitation, and the ecosystem could no longer sustain itself.
By the early 20th century, sardine stocks were nearly extinct, making export impossible. One by one, salting factories fell into ruin. Today, their remains can still be seen along the coast, some of them later repurposed as prisoner camps during the Spanish Civil War, such as those in Anido and Joaquín Vieta.
Since the 1960s, fishing activity has revived thanks to improvements in deep-sea fishing. Muros remains, as always, deeply connected to the sea, its boats, and its port.
This story comes from far away, from Celts, Romans, Maragatos, and Catalans.
We are in Kallaikoi territory, present-day Galicia. Along the coast, fishermen bring in the day’s catch. On the shore, women, children, and even elders gather around, giving thanks to Nubeiro, the Celtic deity of storms, lightning, and mist, for sparing them once again.
The fish is quickly collected in baskets and carried up to the castro, the ancient hillfort. There, it is carefully prepared as tradition dictated for centuries. First, the fish is gutted and split open, then coated with a crust of salt — seawater dried under the sun — and hung by the tail. This small Celtic community follows its ancestral wisdom.
🏺 ROMAN SALTING TRADITION
Later on, the Romans arrived in Gallaecia and settled near the castros. They were interested in producing and trading garum or liquamen, a highly valued product throughout the Empire, obtained from the fermentation of oily fish cured under the sun with salt and other ingredients such as herbs, vinegar, water, oil, or wine. This fermented condiment was widely used both in Roman cuisine and medicine.
For this purpose, they needed abundant oily fish and salt — both of which this coastline offered in abundance. The production of garum became one of the most profitable businesses of the Roman Empire, alongside oil and wine, all produced here for export.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Arabs, Jews, and Visigoths continued the tradition of salted fish consumption. However, it is believed that Christianity played a key role in sustaining this industry, due to Lent and the prohibition of eating meat.
🚚 THE MARAGATOS AND THE TRADE ROUTES
With the Maragatos came the inland trade of salted fish.
The Maragatos, an ancient travelling community from the Maragatería region in León, had been transporting goods between the northwest coast and the interior of Spain since at least the 18th century. Using carts and mules, they carried salt and fish to Madrid and brought goods back to the coast. Their name is believed by some to come from “mar a gatos” — from the sea to the “cats” (a nickname for Madrid’s inhabitants) — although its exact origin remains uncertain.
🌊 THE RECENT HISTORY: FISHING AS SURVIVAL
In the early 17th century, Muros was devastated by the French. The town was destroyed and fell into poverty. Once again, the estuary became its salvation.
Fishing remained the backbone of survival. Despite everything, the importance of the Muros estuary never faded. By the late 18th century, it attracted foreign industrialists, mainly from Cantabria and Catalonia, who introduced a new model of maritime exploitation closely linked to ports, ships, and trade.
New salting techniques such as pressing, and later the development of the canning industry, transformed traditional ways of working with the sea. From early on, tensions arose as large-scale industry threatened small local producers. The so-called “fomentadores” — Catalan industrial promoters — drove the economic expansion of Galicia’s coastal industry, marking the transition towards canning and a major economic boom that continued into the 20th century.
⚓ OVEREXPLOITATION AND DECLINE
The estuary became filled with factories and boats, and what once looked like prosperity eventually turned into collapse. Lack of control led to overexploitation, and the ecosystem could no longer sustain itself.
By the early 20th century, sardine stocks were nearly extinct, making export impossible. One by one, salting factories fell into ruin. Today, their remains can still be seen along the coast, some of them later repurposed as prisoner camps during the Spanish Civil War, such as those in Anido and Joaquín Vieta.
Since the 1960s, fishing activity has revived thanks to improvements in deep-sea fishing. Muros remains, as always, deeply connected to the sea, its boats, and its port.