ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses opportunities for a more decentralised system of fisheries management in Spain. The Spanish governmental structure, based on a division into seventeen self-governing Autonomous Regions, provides good conditions for handling the great diversity in fisheries organisations among and within coastal districts. The different organisations operating within the Spanish fishing sector can be grouped under five basic types: fishermen’s Guilds, Shipowners’ Associations, Fishing Producers’ Organizations, Business Associations and Trade Unions. Since Spain joined the European Union, the administrative structure of the fishing sector is organised at four different levels: European, national, regional and local. The basic principles of fisheries management continue to be designed by the central administration, which, equally, is responsible for maintaining the unity of fishing policy which applies to the whole territory of the State. It is necessary to provide the organisations with the opportunity of real participation in the design of the most appropriate fishing policy that will affect them anyway.
