CORRALES DE CHIPIONA

Description

Situated off Montijo beach, the fish pens are artificial enclosures of ostionera stone built upon the intertidal rocky zone of the beach.

At high tide the pens fill with sea-water and fish swim over the walls of the pens. Later, as the tide goes out, many fish swim out to sea again, whilst those that haven’t taken advantage of the tide remain trapped in the pens. At low tide fishermen enter the pens to catch the fish.

It is a traditional way to catch fish and its origins are attributed to Romans times, although there are no documents making reference to the pens prior to the late 14^th century.