Fisheries Impacts on North Atlantic Ecosystems: Catch, Effort and National/Regional Data Sets
Spanish Fishing Activities Along the Saharan and Moroccan Coasts
Sylvie Guénette1, Eduardo Balguerías2, and María Teresa García Santamaría2
1Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia
2Instituto Español de OceanografíaAbstract
Because of the geographical proximity between Spain and Morocco, and the poor resources around the Canary Islands, the fishers from the southern region of the Spanish mainland (especially Andalusia) and from the Canary Islands have been fishing along the African coast very early in history. Boats operating from the Canaries exploited resources on the Saharan coast (former Spanish province in Africa situated between approximately 21ºN and 28ºN and since 1976 under Moroccan administration), while those from Andalusia used to fish along the Atlantic Moroccan coast (between approximately 28ºN and 36ºN). Considering its historical importance, we briefly describe each of the fisheries, the landing data and their sources.