SPAIN
FLAG projects address the challenges to the artisanal fishing fleet in the Ría de Pontevedra
Striving for bottom–up development in Galicia Spanish fisheries, especially those operating on a small-scale, are sailing on a choppy sea of continuous, EU-wide downturns in income and employment. Added to this are the problems of declining fish stocks and a loss of confidence in the centralised regulatory system. Fisheries in Galicia in north-western Spain, however, have two lifelines: their ancient institution of fishermen‘s guilds (cofradías) and the EU’s recently developed system of Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGS).
From left, José Manuel Rosas, President of Cofradía de Pescadores de Bueu; Sonia Cabodevila, technician on employment and economic promotion at Municipality of Bueu; María del Carmen Vázquez Nores, President of Cofradía de Lourizán and President of FLAG Ría de Pontevedra; José Barreiro Gómez, Secretary of Cofradía de Pescadores de Bueu; Laura Nieto Zas, Ría de Pontevedra FLAG manager.
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LAGs are part of FARNET, the network that implements Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). On the local level, FLAGs unite stakeholders (fishers, companies, associations, NGOs, local administration, researchers, fishermen’s guilds, etc.) in ascertaining the situation in a local fishing or
aquacultural community and developing CLLD programmes that address particular needs. Resources are then distributed under EMFF.
An ancient fishing industry at home in Galicia The province of Pontevedra (whose capital is also named Pontevedra)
is located about halfway down the west coast of Galicia, one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities (plus two autonomous cities). Galicia’s more than 1,660 km of coastline is home to major population and manufacturing centres, but most important, it is the home to its fishing industry, which plays a vital role in Galicia’s culture, history, and economy. Although Spain takes catches in all seven of the fishing
areas covered by EU catch statistics (north-east Atlantic; north-west Atlantic; Mediterranean and Black seas; eastern-central Atlantic; southeast Atlantic; south-west Atlantic; and western Indian Ocean), this is done mostly by large-scale, industrial fisheries. The fisheries in the Pontevedra estuary are typically small artisanal fisheries working almost exclusively near Galicia’s irregular coastline. &VSPl TI Magazine 2 / 2020
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