As May 14, Whale Day, approaches, the last of this year's special lectures will be offered this afternoon, starting at 7:00 PM. Under the title "Sardinatan edo antxoatan ari ziren" (They were fishing for sardines or anchovies), Jon Agirresarobe Torrotxo and Pedro Miguel Uranga will discuss Orio in the early 20th century.
Initially, the event was scheduled at the Zimitorio, but due to bad weather, the town hall has announced that it will be moved to the Cultural Center. The aim of this talk is to transmit knowledge about fishing, and for this, Agirresarobe and Uranga are researching fishing and life in Orio during the 20th century in collaboration with the San Nicolás fishermen's guild.
“"Most writers of the time agreed: a fisherman's life in Orio would be impossible unless the bar's entrance and exit were fixed. But the arrival of the whale on May 14, 1901, caught fishermen Olaizola, Loidi, Atxega, Manterola, and Uranga with the sardines. As had not happened for a long time, almost 100 residents found a place in the town's traineras and steamships; and as many women worked in the mallera, as fishmongers, net makers, and in salting factories."
The lecture will analyze the period when inshore fishing gained strength and the moment when the town's future began to reorganize around the sea. The last whale capture was in 1901, the same year the first Kontxako Bandera was won. In that decade, the first steamships, salting factories, the renovation of the San Nicolás guild, and the Dendarikoa square guild, among others, emerged in Orio. In those early years of the 20th century, some of the main foundations of a town that would eventually have almost 30 steamships were laid.
