Neptun Pearl

The old story that the oysters arrived in Portugal in the hoofs of foreign ships is just that, a story. "It's a nonsense. We have fossils that come from the Jurassic Age," explains Célia Rodrigues, founder, and director of the Neptun Pearl in her straightforward, relaxed style. Born in Peniche, from a family connected to the sea - her mother is one of the last sellers of dry fish in the village - Célia has been in Setúbal for 20 years. It was there while working in aquaculture, that one began to really interest in oysters. "I was friends with the fishermen, I did the fish autopsies, and one day one of them introduced me to the wild oysters," she recalls. One producer from the region, Reinaldo Mendonça, took her to the natural banks and Célia made the recovery of the Portuguese species, crassotrea angulata, a mission. she started by catching them on the Mira River, "the less polluted in Europe", she says and today she creates them in hatcheries in the Sado estuary, in an integrated aquaculture system - where they grow halophytic plants and river shellfish - and non-intensive production: each oyster is entitled to more oxygen and food, which allows it to develop with above-average quality.