人々を結ぶ魚、ポルトガル人に愛される「イワシ」

【ぺニシェ（ポルトガル）ＡＦＰ＝時事】ポルトガル各地で毎年６月に開かれる屋外パーティーの主役は「イワシ」だ。イワシは同国の漁獲量全体の３分の２を占め、イワシの缶詰産業は主要産業となっている。（写真はポルトガル・ぺニシェのイワシの缶詰工場）
　リスボンでイワシ祭りに参加していたゴンサロ・オルテガさん（２７）はＡＦＰに「イワシがあるところに人やビール、友人が集い、一体感が生まれる。イワシが人々を結び付ける」と語った。
　ポルトガルでは多くの自治体が、独自の夏祭りを開催する。もちろん、辺りには炭火焼されたイワシの香りが漂う。
　ポルトガルは欧州連合（ＥＵ）加盟国２７か国で最も魚の消費量が多いが、大半は輸入だ。伝統料理でよく使用されるバカリャウ（干し塩ダラ）は、ポルトガルよりも北の海域で漁獲されている。
　漁業経済史の専門家、アルバロ・ガリド氏は、「ポルトガルは干し塩ダラを輸入しているため、水産品は慢性的に貿易赤字を抱えている。貿易赤字はイワシの缶詰の輸出によって多少補われてはいる」と説明した。
　中部ペニシェの港を拠点とする漁船の船長、アゴニア・トラオさん（５１）は、「沖には大量のイワシがいる。伝統あるイワシ漁は特別だ。特に高品質のイワシはみんな大好きだ」と話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/10/19-18:27）

The humble sardine, a feature of the street parties that pop up across Portugal in summer, makes up two thirds of the country's fish catch and has spawned an important canning industry.
Where there are sardines, there are people, beer, friends and a sense of community. Sardines bring people together, 27-year-old Goncalo Ortega told AFP at a Sardine Festival street party in Lisbon this summer.
Nearly every town and village has its own summer festivities, with open-air dancing and, of course, the aroma of sardines grilling on an outdoor barbecue.
The sardine is the most abundant, most commonly found fish up and down the Portuguese coast. It's a really important part of people's diet, not just in fishing villages but also in major urban centres, explained Alvaro Garrido, an expert in the economic history of the fishing industry.
In that sense, sardine fishing is of huge social importance, even more than Portugal's iconic salted cod, he said.
The Portuguese eat more fish than any other nation in the 27-member European Union. Most of the fish is imported, notably the salted cod which features so prominently in the country's traditional cuisine but is actually fished in more northerly waters.
Portugal has a chronic trade deficit in fish products because of the salted cod imports. That's balanced out somewhat by exports of tinned sardines, Garrido said.
Sardine fishing is special because it's a tradition. Everyone loves sardines, especially good quality ones, said Agonia Torrao, the captain of a fishing boat based in the port of Peniche, in central Portugal.
You can find large numbers of sardines all along our coasts. That's why we fish for them, the 51-year-old told AFP.
Despite its historic importance and the pride of place it holds in the Portuguese imagination, the fishing industry is in decline.
According to the office of national statistics, there were 14,000 fishermen in Portugal last year on 7,600 boats, around a third fewer than 20 years ago.