“Action and anticipation.” Those were two of the most common terms used during the unveiling of the report titled The Fishing, Aquaculture, and Processing Industry in Spain: Challenges for Sustainability. The study, prepared by the Spanish Economic and Social Council, aims to counteract the drop in consumption of national fish and to respond to competition from exporters in other countries. As chair Antón Costas noted, it is the first time a study of this scale has been publicly presented in this way within a regional autonomous community. He highlighted that Galicia stands at the heart of Spain’s fishing sector, and spoke of the broad consensus reached among the 60 council members involved in creating a document designed to raise the quality of public debate and influence decisions by administrations.
In the Vigo event, the key findings about the challenges and priorities for Spain’s seafood value chain were laid out. The discussion emphasized environmental considerations without losing sight of the social and economic impacts of industry actions.
Isabel Artime, secretary general for Fisheries, and Manuel Pérez, president of the Spanish Economic and Social Council of Galicia, joined Costas in inaugurating the session. They cited immediate issues such as the lack of generational renewal across fishing, aquaculture, and the processing sector at the national level. Other focal points included the inclusion of women, adherence to equality plans, work-life balance, innovation, digitalization, and the energy transition.
“For the people who work the sea, the workplace and home become one during their lives at sea,” Pérez noted, stressing the need to reduce on-board accidents by improving working conditions. Artime added that many recommendations from the CES report align with measures already implemented or underway at the national government level, calling for new vessels that are adapted to the future of fishing and urging fair competition with foreign producers through clear guidelines and rules of the game.
Those themes emerged strongly in one panel moderated by Basilio Otero, president of the National Federation of Fishing Co-operatives, who also serves as a council member and chairs the Agriculture and Fisheries Working Committee responsible for the report. Panelists included Roberto Alonso, secretary general of Anfaco-Cecopesca; Yobana Bermúdez, director general of Conxemar; José Carlos Rendón, president of Apromar; and Carmen Navas, vice president of the National Federation of Fishing Co-operatives. A central worry was that roughly seventy percent of Spain’s seafood sales come from imports, underscoring the tension between domestic production and foreign supply chains.
Planning for the next century of fishing
“There are many challenges ahead,” Alonso remarked, underscoring that studies like this CES report must translate into concrete actions to keep the sector thriving for another hundred years. In the face of falling fish sales, he urged broad-scale campaigns to promote seafood consumption. He also called for a reduction in value-added tax on seafood products, a fight against fake news and plant-based imitators, and strengthened monitoring and enforcement to curb illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
The leader of Spain’s canned goods industry echoed this call for precision. He argued for tighter controls on imports from operators who do not uphold sustainability standards, stressing that ships lacking permits or licenses, those contributing to overfishing, or those relying on forced or exploited labor should be blocked from markets.
On sustainability, Bermúdez offered a view aligned with the Spanish Wholesale, Import, Export, and Processing Association for Fisheries and Aquaculture. She framed sustainability as a matter of responsibility and noted that everyone wants a resilient food system. The path forward, she argued, is about anticipating changes—anticipation being the key to meeting future demands.
The Conxemar director general addressed another pressing issue: succession and the professionalization of the workforce. She advocated for digitalizing plants and changing the mindset of younger generations, promoting fishing as a rewarding and appealing path where careers can rise. She also argued that policy direction cannot be dictated solely by Spain; instead, it should be guided by European-level decisions. She called for unity, insisting that progress requires everyone moving forward together.
All of these discussions pointed back to a shared aim: a sustainable, competitive seafood sector that can endure well beyond today. The emphasis was not merely on environmental safeguards but on the integration of innovation, fair labor practices, and a robust business environment that respects the social fabric of coastal communities. In this sense, the dialogue was less about isolated fixes and more about a comprehensive strategy that links production, processing, and the wider market in a way that benefits fishermen, workers, and consumers alike.