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Spain Fisheries
Spain was Western Europe's leading fishing nation, and
it had
the world's fourth largest fishing fleet. Spaniards ate
more fish
per capita than any other European people, except the
Scandinavians. In the mid-1980s, Spain's fishing catch
averaged
about 1.3 million tons a year, and the fishing industry
accounted
for about 1 percent of GDP. Sardines, mussels,
cephalopods, cod,
mackerel, and tuna, most of which came from the Atlantic
Ocean,
were the principal components of the catch (see
table 8,
Appendix). Fishing was particularly important in the
economic
life of Galicia, the principal fishing ports of which were
Vigo
and La Coruna on the northwest coast. Also important were
Huelva,
Cadiz, and Algeciras in the south, and Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria
and Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
In the mid-1980s, the fishing fleet numbered between
13,800
and 17,500 vessels, most of which were old and small.
Deep-sea
vessels numbered about 2,000. Spain's 100,000 fishermen
made up
one-third of all EC manpower in the fishing sector, and a
further
700,000 Spanish jobs depended on fishing. Prior to its
admission
into the EC, the undisciplined behavior of Spanish
fishermen was
a constant problem for the government and for other
European
countries. Spanish vessels were frequently charged with
fishing
violations in the Atlantic and the North Sea. Entry into
the EC
brought access to most of its waters, but it also meant
catches
would be sharply restricted until 1995.
Data as of December 1988
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