María Maceiras

Marinera (Muros, La Coruña, Spain)

Her stand for the need to protect marine resources on social media won this young La Coruña mariner the Alimentos de España National Young Talent Gastronomy Award.

María comes from a seafaring family, and although she studied Care for Dependent Persons for a time, the sea crossed her path when her partner, also a mariner, asked her for help with the boat he had just bought.

She began to post videos of work to preserve species by Rogelio Santos Queiruga, a fishing vessel skipper with an active presence on social networks. Initially on TikTok and then on Instagram, María makes videos showing how species which are not large enough or are spawning are returned to the water, to encourage other fishermen to do the same.

Her stand for sea resources earned her a place on the list of the one hundred talented young persons drawn up by the Basque Culinary Center Foundation, and also won her the Alimentos de España National Young Talent Gastronomy Award from Spain's Royal Gastronomy Academy and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food.