The port of Isla Cristina (Spanish: Puerto de Isla Cristina), belonging to the maritime province of Huelva on the Spanish Costa de la Luz, is the port with the highest turnover in fresh fish in Andalusia and one of the first in tonnage and importance of catches at national level.

It has grown steadily in extension, reaching over 640,000 m² (64 ha) in 2009 after its latest expansion, although not in terms of the landing of catches.

Initially, around 1724, a rudimentary port in the area of the "Barra de la Tuta" for mooring and landing of goods was the logical and necessary consequence of the arrival, from the early years of the 18th century (perhaps earlier), of fishing artisans from the Levante and even France.

These fishermen were attracted by the fishing of sardines and tuna mainly, and other species of commercial interest, returning after the season to their ports of origin.

[4] This periodic transfer of seasonal workers marks the moment when fishing activity began on the Barra de la Tuta.

Until the 1750s, the fisheries developed in the area in the form of colonies with frequent summer activity, dependent on the ports of origin in the Spanish Levante.

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake is the milestone that provoked the need to settle in a point conveniently protected from natural hazards and, incidentally, to look for a place where to obtain better tax conditions.

[5][4] Its protected strategic location, along with some political events promoted by the Marquis of Pombal in Portugal (see history of Vila Real de Santo António) and thanks to jurisdictional concessions from Charles III, led to a strong development of fishing activity in this port from the early years of its formation.

Even at this time there was no demand for further progress in these modern methods of extraction, as they were technically expensive and costly, making the art of the almadraba still unprofitable for a society that was not prepared for it because of the intricacies of the guilds and inadequate regulations.

[5][7]0 With the arrival of the canning industry, demand increased enormously, since the fish did not need to be consumed immediately, but could be preserved, stored and transported long distances for later consumption.

In other parts of the province, it was preferred to trade with Portuguese sardines instead of fishing them, which reduced the dynamism and prevented the modernization of those ports, in addition to the risks involved, since Portugal also had an important canning industry.

At that time, the port of Isla Cristina had managed to agglutinate before it a stable population of 10,000 inhabitants (comparable at the time with cities like Avilés or Irun) and had experienced a strong industrialization of fishing activities associated, producing tuna alone, several thousand kilos per day and generating thousands of jobs directly or indirectly, besides having real industrial colonies in several points of the coast of the Gulf of Cadiz (concentrated in a few families), as was the case of Rota, with factories of up to 600 people of the Zamorano and Romeu families.

The technological development of the time largely permitted this economic flourishing based on tuna, as described by Bellón in 1926:[9]...the great development acquired in our country by the tuna industry as the canning procedures have been perfected and the means of communication have improved, opening new markets for consumption, has been reflected in the factories, which have gone from being simple salting pans, with rudimentary material, to become magnificent installations, where modern energy sources and mechanical wonders are put to use.This development refers mainly to the industrialization of canning (mainly tuna canning, but also sardines) and took place mainly in the factories of Serafín Romeu and Pérez y Feu in Isla Cristina and the latter also in Ayamonte.

Of the four large canning companies in the Gulf of Cadiz, which accounted for practically the entire national sector; Viuda de Zamorano, Serafín Romeu, José Ramón Curbera and Compañía Almadrabera Española, the first two were from the islands.

The average daily production capacity of the Cádiz almadraba-canning companies, that is, canned tuna (generally in the hands of businessmen from Isla Cristina or Ayamonte) exceeded 50,000 kg.

The data on landed fish have reached our days thanks to the fact that they were published at the time in the island newspaper La Higuerita.

With this, the contribution of the Huelva coast was reduced to only 30% of Andalusian production compared to the remaining 70% concentrated in the province of Cadiz.

Already in the 20th century, in an area of about 50 m² reclaimed from the sea of the Muelle Martínez Catena, the port authority's hut was built.

The part of the Muelle Marina that had not yet been extended, from its eastern end to the Puente Infanta Cristina, was incorporated into the port at the turn of the millennium.

[5][15] After the approval of the PGOU of 1987, preparations began for the construction, in the neighborhood of Punta del Caimán, of a marina with capacity for 204 berths and more than 50,000 m² of surface area.

In 2007 it was finally decided to enlarge it as a consequence of the enormous demand for moorings in this port, with more than 6 years of waiting for its adjudication.

[17] The fleet based in the port represents more than 22,000 gross registered tons and is composed of about 250 vessels, with an average of 88 GRT, with a significant employment rate, in addition, indirectly hosts an important secondary or processing sector that includes several thousand jobs.

[note 4][1][12][17][18][19] The industrial port is the one with the highest turnover of fresh fish in Andalusia, reaching again in the first half of 2009 the second position as Andalusian producer and representing 54.4% of the operations in the Andalusian Llotjas together with Cadiz, Punta Umbria, Barbate and Caleta de Velez,[20] one of the main fishing grounds, along with Agadir, already mentioned and still in operation, is that of Senegambia.

[23] Being one of the main ports at national level in production, number of vessels and value of catches —over 20 million euros— it is necessary a business managem ent of the Llotja (lota), in charge of it is the company Lonja de Isla Cristina S.L.

and the giant bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), although the sea bream contributes at least half of the provincial total, which in turn represents a quota of 15% at the national level.