Costa Blanca underwater fishing club waiting for the nod to catch more than 200 kilos of fresh fish for the hardest hit by the health pandemic

An underwater fishing club in El Campello on the Costa Blanca hopes to catch more than 200 kilos of fresh fish to help feed the hardest hit by the coronavirus.

MEMBERS have requested permission to stage a special fishing event to catch as much fish as they are allowed to, to donate to Caritas, an organisation helping those in need.

All being well, the initiative will take place later this month and will be announced in advance.

The Underwater Activities Club (CAS) of El Campello wants to collaborate “in making the crisis more bearable,” according to spokesman Luis Manuel Gómez Blanco.

He said the club is currently waiting for Central Government to give the ahead after a request was processed by the Valencian Federation of the sport.

“It’s time to pitch in, and everyone wants to collaborate by doing what they can or know how to do,” says CAS, adding, “the speciality of the 30 members of CAS El Campello is underwater fishing in free diving.”

Regional laws allow individual catches of up to five kilos of fish or octopus per person, “plus a larger piece without specifying weight,” said the club.

“We comply with all the guidelines, since it is an individual activity, where there is no contact, and it is a federated sport of total isolation.”

The proposal has already been put to the Councillor for Sports in the town, and once the government’s consent is received, the operation will be launched.

Luis Manuel Gómez Blanco said: “It will require the participation of the El Campello Council to deliver to Cáritas the more than 200 kilos of fish we hope to catch.”

Caritas is an organisation which offers assistance to the vulnerable and those affected by poverty and social exclusion.