Portal de San Pedro del Pinatar
www.portaldesanpedrodelpinatar.com
The non-profit association is driven by five companies that meet 85 percent of the national market share.
It aims to publicize the benefits of the product, promote its consumption and claim the environmental role they play
Spain produces 40 percent of all sea salt in Europe.
The objective of this association is to open up to other countries to defend the benefits of a sustainable industry
Five companies producing sea salt based in Spain have just been grouped under the name of SALIMAR (Association of Marine Salinas), an association that brings together 85% of the market share and born, among others, with three clear objectives: "To make known the characteristics and benefits of sea salt, promote its responsible consumption for the benefit of health and claim the environmental function of an industry without which there would be no ecosystems of enormous wealth, in which hundreds of animal species live and nest ", according to its drivers.
The associated companies in SALIMAR are Marítima de Sales (Cádiz), Infosa (Tarragona), Salinas de Es Trenc (Mallorca), Salinera Española (Ibiza and Murcia) and Bras del Port (Alicante).
Among the five, a total of 7,200 hectares, with an average productive capacity of 720,000 tons per year and an annual global turnover of 46 million euros.
Sea salt is present in countless applications that go from human consumption to the food industry (salted fish, ham dryers, canneries ...) through the chemical industry or water treatment (decalcification, electrolysis ...).
Natural singularities of sea salt
There are, fundamentally, three types of salts.
On the one hand, rock salt, whose origin is natural but is extracted with aggressive techniques for the environment that entail large consumption of water, use of explosives and drilling techniques that cause erosion in the environment and cause irreversible effects on the environment .
On the other hand, there is another type of salt, called vacuum, whose obtaining requires large consumption of electricity and heat since they are based on a crystallization of the forced and artificial salt resulting in large amounts of CO2 emissions (leaving an important trace of carbon), with the consequent environmental impact.
The third is sea salt, which is obtained naturally by solar evaporation, in the open air, of seawater, without producing environmental aggression.
In fact, marine salt activity is an example of industry-nature symbiosis since, as a result of its productive activity, places of high ecological value have been created.
These are natural spaces that are a clear example of compatibility of traditional trades and environmental conservation.
The composition of sea salt is also different.
Although all salts for sale exceed the concentration of sodium chloride of 97% required by law, the marina complements that sodium chloride with trace elements such as potassium or magnesium, an element appreciated for its ability to faithfully transmit the flavors of the food.
Places full of life
One of the main motivations of SALIMAR as an association is to make visible the places where the salt pans of the Spanish coast are located, spaces classified as Natural Parks.
"From the association we want to value sea salt thanks, among other things, to its inherent ability to create natural and sustainable ecosystems. Not surprisingly, the places where the salt mines that make up the association are based stand out for their enormous biodiversity ", explains Gonzalo Díaz Caicoya, president of the association.
From the Bay of Cádiz to San Pedro del Pinatar, through Alicante and the Ebro Delta or the Ibizan and Mallorcan coasts, the salt flats gathered under the SALIMAR umbrella concentrate a wide range of species that live and nest in these habitats thanks to the existence of extensive brackish wetlands and the diversity of food found in them.
For example, in the salt flats you can see birds such as egrets, the characteristic flamingos or several species of protected seagulls, as well as various species of fish and the characteristic flora of the wetlands.
So much so that some salinas are open to the public for their visit, adding to the production of sea salt another more informative function.
SALIMAR's visitable salt flats offer tourists the possibility of traveling through a biodiverse environment, but they also help recover the history of places bequeathed by pioneer civilizations such as the Phoenicians.
Nonprofit Disclosure
Another of the missions of this non-profit association is to disseminate through its different channels web page and social networks and information in the media about the benefits of responsible consumption, which will materialize in recipes with sea salt, tips for the consumer or guides to identify this type of salt.
In short, the identification and consumption of one hundred percent natural and sustainable sea salt will be defended.
It should be noted that in Spain more than 40 percent of sea salt is produced throughout Europe, but the idea is to continue growing.
"Today it is a Spanish association that represents and defends the interests of the sector at the national level, but the goal is for SALIMAR to be a European association, open to any producer of sea salt in Europe can be associated and feel officially represented," he says. The president of the new association.
Source: Agencias
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