The life aquatic

The Galician fishing sector is the most important in the EU, writes Carmen Gallego, and ensures the well-being of the autonomous Spanish region

The Galician fishing sector, which encompasses all activities related to extractive fishing, shellfishing and aquaculture, is one of the primary drivers of the economy of the Autonomous Community of Galicia and, within this area, the most important in the EU. And this is confirmed in the latest official data released by the fishing and maritime affairs council for the years 2006 and 2007; using their figures, profit from the sale of fresh fish and aquacultural products exceeded €700m.

Aside from direct turnover, this activity stimulates the working of many other economic sectors in Galicia. In fact, the Galician fishing sector depends on no less than 24,000 sailors, aquaculturalists, and shellfishermen, who regularly fish in the waters of the autonomous community, as well as workers in the fish processing industry (canned and frozen foods), which make up more than 18,000 employees, naval construction workers, commercial and auxiliary industries. In this sense, it is estimated that for every sea worker there are four more on the land.

Another economic measure that reveals the importance of this activity for our region is GDP. According to data from 2005, extractive fishing and shellfishing, as well as the aquacultural sector and canned food industry, contributed 1.98 per cent of Galician GDP.In this context, Galicia has the most important fishing fleet of any autonomous Spanish region, covering 40 per cent of the registered ships in Spain. The most important are the minor or coastal fishing vessels, which fish within national waters, but there are also the major vessels that operate in international waters, as many EU as non-EU, which have a presence in a total of 25 countries.

Furthermore, we are the region with the highest number of fishing ports running the length of our coast, a total of 78, where all captures from professional fishermen are unloaded. At the same time, we are leaders in aquacultural production of mussels, the first EU sea product to obtain the protection designation of origin (PDO) label, as happened with turbot. We are also leaders in processed food production; our autonomous community makes 85 per cent of tin cans that go out to the Spanish market.

In general terms, for Galicia, fishing and its directly related industries are strategic sectors that are vitally important for the well-being of the country. Aware of this importance, the fisheries and maritime affairs council of the Galician leadership (the Xunta de Galicia) works in favour of the sustainable management of the fishing resources of the Galician fleet, control of illegal fishing, improvement of industrial labourers conditions on the sea, and the new generation in the sector. Moreover, we are creating incentives for fishing management projects for sailors and shellfishermen, protected marine areas, workers’ security, amongst many other initiatives, adhering to the philosophy of the new European fisheries fund (2007-2013).