Wholesale fish-business owners from the Mercasa central wholesale market network now have a common space on the Internet. This, the first ‘virtual community’ for sector professionals, is an initiative by the National Association of Spanish Fish Wholesalers (ANMAPE), with the joint collaboration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Through this community – accessed on the website www.anmape.es - business owners can share information about the sector or their own enterprises. To do so, each wholesaler must first set up his or her own website as part of the platform, inserting the contents (commentary, photos, videos, etc.) he or she wishes to post for the rest of the community to read.

Manuel Pablos, secretary-general of ANMAPE, addressed some 80 Market wholesalers who attended the portal presentation on 2 April: “We’ve created a place that will make it easier to address issues of interest among professionals. More than anything, though, we want it to be a reference space, a source of sector information.” The platform also has a section for public access, where retailers and consumers can obtain first-hand information on the latest developments (news, new products, studies, etc.) in the national fisheries sector.