The first fish salting factory founded on La Gomera was La Cantera. The initiative came in 1831 from the then significant Genoese entrepreneur Francis Grasso.
The factory consists of large warehouses centered on dry pools called "Chancas", which are used to store the already salted fish. The preparation of the fish happens on large table tops in the lateral areas of the room and in adjoining rooms. The fish salted here is tuna.
There are also factories in the factory for cooperage, blacksmithing, as well as material warehouses, apartments for the owners, employees and workers, so that the farm is like a small village to which the sea route is the only transport connection.
Much of the production from the La Cantera factory was destined for the Italian market, with the remainder split among various Spanish and foreign customers. In 1890, for example, a shipment consisting of 1,500 boxes of 85 kg each went to a German company.
At that time, the cans were first shipped with a company schooner [una goleta] to San Sebastián, where they were then reloaded on interinsular steamers. Over time, the ship fleet grew. In 1926, a celebration was held in the coastal enclave La Caleta on the occasion of the completion of two new falúas (barges), which had been built in the small shipyard of the factory.
Source: Book "Pescantes de La Gomera" by Gloria Díaz Padillo (San Sebastián de La Gomera, 2008)