MQ Blue Fish

Tarragona's blue fish was the first in the whole Mediterranean to receive the Quality Mark (MQ) label. Those that enjoy this label, at the minimum authorised sizes, are sardine and horse mackerel at 12 cm, anchovy and Atlantic bonito... at 18 cm, and the bogue and the sprat at 11 cm. To carry the MQ, the fish must be caught with night-time encircling nets shorter than 300 m, not counting the ends, of about 15 m each.

To guarantee the highest quality, the catch is kept alive until the moment it is packed in crushed ice. All catches are mostly concentrated in the Gulf of Sant Jordi and nearby areas.