Interview in Hirutxuloko Hitza
This week we were interviewed in the newspaper Irutxuloko Hitza (by Beñat Parra and photos by Joseba Parron San Sebastian), which was very interesting and which I would like to share with you.
The original in Basque : https://irutxulo.hitza.eus/2024/07/05/egungo-artzain-edo-arrantzale-bat-ez-da-duela-30-urtekoa/
‘Today’s shepherd or fisherman is not like those of 30 years ago’.
Iñaki Alberdi Les (Aiete, 1976) is 100% sailor: ‘I feel free at sea’, he says. Although he is from Aiete, he has lived in the port since he was very young. He now has the company Oribay Tours, which runs tourist trips on his boat. But it is not just another tourist service, as he transmits knowledge and values about fishing, seafaring culture and the sea from a popular perspective: ‘I don’t want to be elitist’.
What do you do for a living?
About ten years ago I worked as a skipper in commercial fishing in San Sebastian. However, when the Cofradía closed down, I decided to set up this Oribay project. I had been to Mexico and there I saw that there were projects that combined commercial and sport fishing, so I decided to do something similar here. So, in 2016, I managed to get my project off the ground and won the award for the best innovative tourism project from Fomento de San Sebastián.
Other companies offer small boat trips, stag and hen parties and things like that, but I’m going for a different model. My particularity has always been that I don’t want to be a simple tourist service, that’s why I also get a lot of people from here: from Tolosa, from Beasain, from San Sebastian… I try to set reasonable prices because I don’t want this to be an elitist thing.
Have you always lived from the sea?
I started here in 1998, on the quayside, working as a sailor on a small fishing boat. I learnt a lot at that time and I still have a relationship with my former skippers.
How did you decide to go to sea?
When I was 7-8 years old I was here, in the port, because my grandfather did sport fishing, with a boat called Oribay; that’s why that’s the name of my project. He was quite a well-known person in San Sebastian, among other things because he opened the first skate shop in San Sebastian, the Les shop. He opened the shop because he talked to young people at the time, who told him that they wanted skateboarding equipment from the United States. He was a very open and approachable person, and I have inherited that character.
So you got your love of the sea from your grandfather.
Also, I have always had a special bond with nature. When people go with me to the mountains, they tell me that I see things in the mountains that other people don’t see: birds, etc. I’ve always been like that. I have always been like that; since I was a child, I used to hunt birds, chase lizards, go to farmhouses? And the mountains and the sea are very different, but in the end they are both nature.
Then I specialised in the sea, but when I was young, I knew I wanted to be a shepherd. Anything but being stuck at home.
It can be said that your offer is touristy, but it is clearly more sustainable than the traditional tourist model.
I always say that I promote ecotourism and slowfishing. Ecotourism, among others, to get to know our coastal biotope and see dolphins, seagulls, cormorants and other animals that live in our environment. Slowfishing is a philosophy: we want to fish, but why do we fish, based on what the fish eat? I try to concentrate the information and explanations on the values and I give it all on each trip. That’s why people always come away very happy.
What values do you want to transmit?
We know that nowadays what reigns in social networks is hypocrisy, always showing the prize, in a way. For me, however, what is valuable is learning. I always say that there are two types of fishermen: one, the constant one, who goes fishing every day and, of course, the one who fishes, because he goes every day. And the other, the one who hits the right spot, who only goes out when he has the wind, looking at the state of the water, the time of year and so on, but who fishes when he goes out. However, to be the latter you have to be the former for years, because that’s how you learn. That’s how we find true knowledge, by being curious and getting the crumb out of everything.
‘That environment is mine; it belongs to everyone, but the one who is there every day is me. If those of us who are there don’t take care of it every day, who is going to take care of it?’
Is the culture of immediacy more widespread today?
‘One day I’ll go fishing and I’ll catch a huge piece of fish’ is the widespread culture. But it’s not like that, there is a lot of work behind it. You see, I’m here every day, constantly researching with computers, motors, apparatus… trial and error, trial and error.
Besides, while you’re studying, you’re at sea, and I feel free at sea. We still have a few corners where we can be out of everything established and one of them is the sea. That’s why I continue with this.
You are involved in the Izan Arrantzale project to promote the culture of fishing among children, aren’t you? What does it consist of?
We are short of skippers. Something similar is also happening in the farmhouse because the primary sector is getting smaller and smaller, there is a lack of generational replacement. It’s a project to encourage young people to enter this world, so that they can then learn a cycle about it, etcetera. I invest a lot of energy in it because it is a pleasure to work with children and young people, because they are sponges, they internalise everything you teach them. I go on fishing trips with the kids, and I teach them everything I know.
Moreover, today’s shepherd or fisherman is not a shepherd or fisherman like he was 30 years ago, thanks to the internet, among other things. And that gives a lot of possibilities. I come from traditional fishing – go, fish and sell – but I have always seen that we had to change that model because to make a living that way I have to put a lot of pressure on my environment. And that environment is mine; it belongs to everybody, but the one who is there every day is me. If those of us who are there don’t take care of it every day, who will take care of it? What I am doing now allows me to continue working in the same field, to be in that environment every day and to take care of myself, to teach people all this and also to be consistent with my values. Before, I had to catch a hundred kilos of sea bass to get a day’s wages; now, one is enough for me because I don’t sell fish, I sell concept, study and experience.
San Sebastian has historically been closely linked to the sea. Do you think this has been lost?
There are people from San Sebastian who have never seen the back of the island and when they see it, they freak out. That’s why projects like mine exist, so that people can get to know what’s around them, without having to buy a boat and pay for a place. Because that’s really elitist, only people who can afford it can get to know our coast and our sea.
‘Not betraying your principles is to be a good person, to be consistent with yourself’.
You show your clients the ropes, animals and so on that they have next to your house.
It is often a surprise for them: ‘Are there dolphins here?’ or ‘Do you fish sea bass here?’, they often ask in surprise. It’s also true that I go to the sea every day, so I know where to go, what we can see, and so on. For example, when I started this project, ten years ago, the Igeldo shag colony began to live there and I have seen how the colony has been increasing and occupying more and more land. You see the evolution of the environment and that is very gratifying.
I also go on trips about our seafaring culture and explain to those who come here how fishing has been done here historically. I thought that all this would be explained to me at the fishing school, but no, I have learned all this through experience, because my skippers have allowed me to learn it; this, however, does not happen on all boats. In order to learn, young people have to be willing to learn and older people also have to be willing to teach. And I am on that path now with the Izan Arrantzale project.
You’ve seen everything at sea.
Every day is an adventure, yes, for better or worse. To cite an anecdote, a few years ago we saw a shark. It used to be more common to see them, but not so much now.
Mass fishing, climate change…
I always say that when there is a problem, it is not just for one reason. In the case of fish, in the end, what is happening is that their home is shrinking: because of microplastics, because of pollution, because of industrial fishing… And that is not only happening in the sea. And this is not only happening in the sea. Who is to blame? Well, more or less everyone. Before, for example, seagull colonies were located all along the coast, but now they are only located in areas that are not accessible, such as Txoriharri, etc. And, they go to landfills because they have no choice but to eat. We often think that they are opportunists, but they are not; I have seen them using techniques to catch crabs on the rocks, because when they can, they go hunting and fishing.
Over the years you have seen how the fauna of the area and the environment in general has changed.
Things change year after year and not only in nature. Humans are like animals, we adapt to whatever comes our way: to price rises, changes in work and day-to-day life in general.
You have also seen how the port has changed.
What has happened in the port of San Sebastian is not very different from what has happened in the docks in the area because the phenomenon of the fall of the primary sector is generalised. In the fishmongers, for example, they sell thirty percent less than ten years ago. Habits are changing: now people eat less fish, they eat fish from fish farms because it is cheaper, what is caught there is expensive…. And it is not more expensive because the fisherman earns a lot of money, but because you also have to pay for the work of the middlemen. And, of course, you also have to adapt the middlemen to laws and regulations: nowadays, they don’t go with wooden crates, but with sterilised crates and refrigerated lorries. It is a chain, but it is always the weakest link that pays for the problem, and in this case it is the fisherman. Do fishermen need to be protected? Yes, of course. Especially if we want to be self-sufficient and proud of our products. And the same goes for the baserritarras, the shepherds, and so on.
‘I always say: technology and old school. They are not opposing types of knowledge, they are compatible’.
The port is very touristified, but there are still projects like yours that sustain it, because we cannot give up the port for lost.
At least I think so, yes, and that is why I am still here, in the port of San Sebastian. I can go elsewhere, but what am I doing there? I am from here. I believe in my project and I’m going to carry it through no matter what. And that’s how I am, in the summer I live on the boat out of obligation. If not, I would have to raise the prices too much, and I don’t want that, I don’t want to have an elitist service.
When I started the project, many people in the port who had known me since I was a child didn’t believe in the project, but then they saw that it was worthwhile. It is true that I knew English because I had been working with salmon in Ireland, which made things easier for me. On the other hand, I belonged to the first graduating class of the Mutriku aquaculture school, so I also had some knowledge.
So you have the theoretical knowledge and the knowledge that comes from experience.
I always say: technology and old school. They are not opposing types of knowledge, on the contrary, they are compatible. I’m quite open in that sense, always, without betraying my principles. When we get older, we change, but it’s one thing to change and another to betray your principles. Not betraying your principles is being a good person, being consistent with yourself. To give you an example, I was a vegetarian for years, but then I started to eat fish, only the fish I had caught. And some people criticised me. But later on, those who criticised you, you see them eating hamburgers from McDonalds. Or those who, when they were young, fought against speculation and now have three houses to rent. It’s better not to criticise others so much, because maybe they are more consistent than you, even if they have changed.
‘When they call me a ‘nñoñostiarra’, I always say, ‘hey, but from the port!
I’ve been told that I was also passionate about music.
Yes, I don’t know how to read music, but I have always played by ear, especially flamenco and gipsy jazz music. I’ve also worked in groups like Huracán Txabacan, Lobo Electricon, Berebil Swing, Alanbike… With the harmonica I also play blues.
I’ve also been a squatter for years: I lived in Zapatari and I’ve also been involved in rural occupation, revitalising villages. For example, I was in Aritzkuren, I’m from the first generation there. I left home when I was 16 and for years I dedicated myself to these movements.
Now the fiestas of Carmen are coming up, do you enjoy them a lot?
More than Semana Grande. In the end I am from Aiete because the family bought the house there, but in reality I am from the port, I have been hanging around here since I was a child. That’s why, when they call me ‘ñoñostiarra’, I always say, ‘eh, but from the port!