Fishing has always been of fundamental importance to the island's inhabitants in their struggle to survive on this rocky outcrop in the middle of the sea.
The general rule used to be that if you weren't a farmer you were a fisherman, apart from the few weeks of the salt harvest in early autumn when almost every able bodied man worked the salt flats of Salinas.
A tradition that was handed down through the generations; nowadays there are far fewer professional fishermen. The current generation have largely been lured into the relatively lucrative tourism industry.
Although working hours in the tourism industry can be long, they compare well with those in the fishing industry where a 2:30 am start is the norm. The work involved in tourism is also more lucrative and less dangerous.
However, hats off to those hardy few who still bring back the fresh catch that we enjoy at the better island restaurants all year round.
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