european commission · cabana de bergantiños and malpica with reduction over 10%. over the same...

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European Commission Fish / 2006 / 09

Assessment of the status, development and diversification of fisheries-dependent communities –

Costa da Morte

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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. General description of the location 1 1.2. Location - Definition 1 1.3. Key geographical characteristics of the community 2

2. DEMOGRAPHIC ASPECTS 6

2.1. Population and population age structure 6 2.2. Ethnicity and migration 13

3. ECONOMIC ASPECTS 15

3.1. Importance of economic activities 15 3.2. Employment and unemployment 24 3.3. The fishing sector 31 3.4. Infrastructure 31 3.5. Local development plans 33 3.6. Public intervention 33

4. FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE SECTOR 35

4.1. Details of the local fishing fleets 36 4.2. Fish stock status 40 4.3. Details of the local processing sub-sector 43 4.4. Details of the local aquaculture sub-sector 44 4.5. Details of the local ancillary sub-sector 44

5. GOVERNANCE 45

5.1. Key local institutions 45 5.2. Public intervention 46

6. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS 51

7. QUALITATIVE INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS 52

7.1. Key events and drivers of change 52 7.2. Adaptation 53 7.3. The future 53 7.4. The role of public intervention 54

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Table of Tables

Table 1: Population of Costa da Morte and comparison with Galicia ............................. 6

Table 2: Estimates of turnover generated by the fishing and aquaculture industries (2009, in € million) ...................................................................................................... 16

Table 3: Volume and Value of main species landed into Costa da Morte in 2009 ....... 35

Table 4: Fishing vessels operating from Costa da Morte ............................................. 37

Table 5: Fleet segments in Port of Caion .................................................................... 38

Table 6: Fleet segments in Port of Camariñas ........................................................... 38

Table 7: Fleet segments in Port of Camelle ................................................................ 39

Table 8: Fleet segments in Port of Corme ................................................................... 39

Table 9: Fleet segments in Port of Laxe ...................................................................... 39

Table 10: Fleet segments in Port of Malpica ............................................................... 40

Table 11: Fleet segments in Port of Muxía .................................................................. 40

Table 12: Management and status of key fisheries for Costa da Morte ....................... 42

Table 13: Turnover Volumes and Concentration, 2005. .............................................. 43

Table 14: FIFG funding in fishing vessels and infrastructure (2000-2006) ................... 46

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Map showing location of Costa da Morte communities ................................... 1

Figure 2: Map showing geographical areas of FLAGs, including FLAG Costa da Morte. ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Figure 3: Population entities in Costa da Morte ............................................................. 3

Figure 4: Population entities in Muxía municipality ........................................................ 3

Figure 5: Geographical overview of Lira marine reserve with zoned areas shown in hashed boxes. .............................................................................................................. 4

Figure 6: Geographical distribution of protected areas in Costa da Morte ..................... 5

Figure 7: Geographical distribution of protected areas along the coastline of Costa da Morte ............................................................................................................................ 5

Figure 8: Changes in the population of A Laracha 1998-2009 ....................................... 6

Figure 9: Changes in the population of Cabana de Bergantiños 1998-2009 .................. 7

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Figure 10: Changes in the population of Camariñas 1998-2009 .................................... 7

Figure 11: Changes in the population of Carballo 1998-2009 ........................................ 8

Figure 12: Changes in the population of Laxe 1998-2009 ............................................. 8

Figure 13: Changes in the population of Muxía 1998-2009 ........................................... 8

Figure 14: Changes in the population of Ponteceso 1998-2009 .................................... 9

Figure 15: Age structure of A Laracha population 1998-2009 ....................................... 9

Figure 16: Age structure of Cabana de Bergantiños population 1998-2009 ................ 10

Figure 17: Age structure of Camariñas population 1998-2009 .................................... 10

Figure 18: Age structure of Carballo population 1998-2009 ........................................ 11

Figure 19: Age structure of Laxe population 1998-2009 .............................................. 11

Figure 20: Age structure of Muxía population 1998-2009 ............................................ 12

Figure 21: Age structure of Ponteceso population 1998-2009 ..................................... 12

Figure 22: Age pyramid for Costa da Morte from census data .................................... 13

Figure 23: Net flows of people in and out of Costa da Morte ....................................... 14

Figure 24: Rents declared for direct taxation in Costa da Morte compared with Galicia ................................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 25: Companies for main economic sectors in A Laracha. ................................. 17

Figure 26: Companies for main economic sectors in Cabana de Bergantiños. ............ 18

Figure 27: Companies for main economic sectors in Camariñas. ................................ 19

Figure 28: Companies for main economic sectors in Carballo. .................................... 20

Figure 29: Companies for main economic sectors in Laxe. ......................................... 21

Figure 30: Companies for main economic sectors in Muxía. ....................................... 22

Figure 31: Companies for main economic sectors in Ponteceso. ................................ 23

Figure 32: Unemployment by main sector in A Laracha. ............................................. 25

Figure 33: Unemployment by main sector in Cabana de Bergantiños. ........................ 25

Figure 34: Unemployment by main sector in Camariñas. ............................................ 26

Figure 35: Unemployment by main sector in Carballo. ................................................ 26

Figure 36: Unemployment by main sector in Laxe. ..................................................... 27

Figure 37: Unemployment by main sector in Muxía. .................................................... 27

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Figure 38: Unemployment by main sector in Ponteceso. ............................................ 28

Figure 39: Local fisheries dependency in A Laracha. .................................................. 29

Figure 40: Local fisheries dependency in Cabanas de Bergantiños ............................ 29

Figure 41: Local fisheries dependency in Camariñas .................................................. 29

Figure 42: Local fisheries dependency in Carballo ...................................................... 30

Figure 43: Local fisheries dependency in Laxe ........................................................... 30

Figure 44: Local fisheries dependency in Muxía ......................................................... 30

Figure 45: Local fisheries dependency in Ponteceso .................................................. 31

Figure 46: Major road network around Costa da Morte ............................................... 32

Figure 47”Evolution of landings Costa da Morte and Coruña port fish auctions. .......... 36

Figure 48: landing price evolution Muxía and Coruña port fish auctions. ..................... 36

Figure 49: Costa da Morte fleet segment changes in number. .................................... 37

Figure 50: Share of value generated by each fleet segment in Costa da Morte. .......... 43

Acronyms

AER Annual Economic Report of EU Fishing Fleets EFF European Fisheries Fund ERDF European Regional Development Fund CFP Common Fisheries Policy EU European Union FTE Full Time Equivalent FIFG Financial Instrument Fisheries Guidance GT Gross Tons kW Kilo Watts ICES International Council for the Exploration of the Sea TAC Total Allowable Catch

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. General description of the location

Costa da Morte1

1.2. Location - Definition

is in the west Galician coast, in A Coruña province. This is the name given to the long stretch of coast lying in the north-west of the Province of A Coruña and which runs between the boroughs of A Laracha and Muxía.

Costa da Morte has no administrative counterpart. Its territorial limits are somehow vague depending on the sources and scope of analysis. In order to better capture the impact and effectiveness of the fisheries structural policies in the Costa da Morte coastal communities, we will follow the same administrative breakdown of the Fisheries Local Group (FLAG) of Costa da Morte, in the context of Axis IV of the European Fishing Fund. Therefore, we are collecting and analyzing data for the following 9 municipalities, i.e. A Laracha, Carballo, Malpica, Ponteceso, Cabana, Laxe, Camariñas, Muxía, Vimianzo, as shown in the figures below. The total surface of these municipalities is 963.70 Km2, representing a 3.26% of Galicia surface and 12.12% of the province of Coruña province.

Figure 1: Map showing location of Costa da Morte communities Source: Plan Estratégico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

1 The name of Costa da Morte has not a clear origin. Some authors attribute the name to the fact that is a dangerous sea, which causes many shipwrecks and deaths. Other people stick to the more romantic version: the myth of the sun dying everyday in the ocean, a fact which impressed the Romans who called this land the Finis Terrae (the end of the Earth).

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Figure 2: Map showing geographical areas of FLAGs, including FLAG Costa da Morte. Source: Plan Estratégico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

1.3. Key geographical characteristics of the community

The climate is oceanic, with moderate average temperatures of 14 °C. Annual rainfall is about 945-1.748 mm/year. An important characteristic of this area its population dispersion, in fact there are numerous small scattered villages as reflected in the maps below. According to the information provided in the Plan Estrategico Zonal de Costa da Morte, there are around 1,120 singular entities of population. (See figures below).

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Figure 3: Population entities in Costa da Morte Source: Plan Estratégico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

Figure 4: Population entities in Muxía municipality Source: Web do Concello de Muxía.

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The coastline of Costa da Morte is abrupt, with some marine lagoons and beaches. A Costa da Morte has been declared an EU Site of Community Interest due to the importance of its maritime ecosystems and the biodiversity of the flora and fauna found in this area. There are several protected areas under the Natura 2000 network within Costa da Morte which have some marine component (including marine areas, sea inlets, tidal rivers, estuaries, mud flats, sand flats and lagoons).

It is worth mentioning the Site of Community Importance of Costa da Morte. This is a coastal area which contributes significantly to the maintenance or restoration at a favourable conservation status of a natural habitat or of a species contributes significantly to the maintenance of biological diversity totalling 43,746 square km, along 152 km of coastline in Costa da Morte.

As of 2009 there is one marine reserve in the area, Os Miñarzos, which was established to protect commercially important marine for the artisanal fleet covering 20.7 square km.

Figure 5: Geographical overview of Lira2

“Os Miñarzos” marine reserve with zoned areas shown in hashed boxes.

Only small scale artisanal fishing vessels have access to the reserves on the condition that they use traditional fishing methods. There are positive results reported not only of improving the catches of this fleet, and putting in place programs of restocking of high value species, but also stimulating other economic activities like fishing-tourism and ecological coastal tourism. Also local catches are more appreciated in markets due to their perceived environmentally sound value.

In the following figures, we can see the distribution of areas under the Natura 2000 network in Costa da Morte

2 In this study, the area of Lira will not be specifically analyzed as it does not belong to the coastal territory covered by the FLAG Costa da Morte.

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Figure 6: Geographical distribution of protected areas in Costa da Morte Source: Plan Estratégico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

Figure 7: Geographical distribution of protected areas along the coastline of Costa da Morte Source: Plan Estratégico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

The location of the Natura 2000 network in Costa da Morte is relevant for the local development as some conflicts with the construction of aquaculture facilities have arisen in the past in Costa da Morte. In this context, the Galician Aquaculture Plan determines in which coastal locations new aquaculture facilities can be installed in a way that respects protected areas under the Natura 2000 network

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Regarding the local economy, we can say that this is mainly based in fisheries and agriculture. The employment dependency in fisheries is almost 30% for communities like Camariñas. There are recent attempts of promoting nature and ethnographic tourism as a way to improve and diversify the local economy in A Costa da Morte.

2. DEMOGRAPHIC ASPECTS

2.1. Population and population age structure

The Instituto Galego de Estatistica (IGE) provides figures for the municipalities of Costa da Morte. The total population of Costa da Morte was 82,734 in 2007, which represents just 2,9% of total Galician population. All municipalities are below 10,000 habitants, except Carballo and A Laracha.

Table 1: Population of Costa da Morte and comparison with Galicia

Population Percentage in relation to total

Galicia Galicia 2,772,533 100% A Coruña 1,132,792 40.86% Zona 3_Costa da Morte 82,734 2.98%

In the period between 2001 and 2009, only two municipalities, Carballo e A Laracha, increased its population while the rest of entities in Costa show negative evolution with Cabana de Bergantiños and Malpica with reduction over 10%.

Over the same period, the population declined 2.02% this is compared to a 1.45% increase over Galicia as a whole. The decline in Costa da Morte was due to a decline of employment on the areas as agriculture and fisheries while growing job opportunities in other more attractive jobs, and ‘life-style’ choice with residents moving to the cities such as A Coruña or Santiago to enjoy a greater range of services and job opportunities. The decline is due to natural factors (local deaths exceeding births) not compensated by migration.

Figure 8: Changes in the population of A Laracha 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 9: Changes in the population of Cabana de Bergantiños 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Figure 10: Changes in the population of Camariñas 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 11: Changes in the population of Carballo 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Figure 12: Changes in the population of Laxe 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Figure 13: Changes in the population of Muxía 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 14: Changes in the population of Ponteceso 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

A pronounced change is occurring in the age structure of the population in Costa da Morte with an increasing proportion of older people as people live longer and birth rates decrease. This pattern is specially marked in Costa da Morte because outward migration rates of young people are also consistently high.

Historically young adults have been leaving the area for further education or employment and this trend continues to date. The chart below illustrates the age structure of all the municipalities of Costa da Morte, showing the alluded increase in the proportion of people over the age of 60.

Figure 15: Age structure of A Laracha population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 16: Age structure of Cabana de Bergantiños population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Figure 17: Age structure of Camariñas population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 18: Age structure of Carballo population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Figure 19: Age structure of Laxe population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 20: Age structure of Muxía population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Figure 21: Age structure of Ponteceso population 1998-2009 Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

Between the two age census of 2001 and 2007, it can be underlined the important decrease in the age pyramid base corresponding to younger people (under 45 years) and the increase of older ones. This is as we mentioned above due to the emigration of young people in other areas or regions and the arrival of old people coming in the area for retirement.

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Figure 22: Age pyramid for Costa da Morte from census data Source: Plan Estrategico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

2.2. Ethnicity and migration

The population of the area is mainly Spanish, of which only a small number have foreign origins. The migration, mainly foreigners, has shown a positive net flow to Costa da Morte from 2002 to 2006. But, in any case it has not been enough to compensate the natural reduction of population in the area.

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Figure 23: Net flows of people in and out of Costa da Morte Source: Plan Estrategico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

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3. ECONOMIC ASPECTS

The current economic situation is, as generally in Spain, still difficult in Costa da Morte. Further to a decreasing trend in the unemployment rate, there was a strong increase in the unemployment around 15% in 2010. On top of that, Costa da Morte has been traditionally less prosperous than the average in Galicia, being Galicia a region below the Spanish average rent. In the figure below, we can see the rent declared in direct taxation. The percentage of population with lower rents is clearly larger in Costa da Morte than in Galicia.

An ageing population and reliance on transporting goods to a dispersed population limits private sector investment in Costa da Morte and there is a significant reliance on public sector transfers and investment. The public sector with substantial investments, primary sector, construction and tourism are the major sources of employment and there is a prevalence of seasonal and part time work.

Figure 24: Rents declared for direct taxation in Costa da Morte compared with Galicia Source: Plan Estrategico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

3.1. Importance of economic activities

There are no estimates of the contribution of the fishing and aquaculture industry to the local economy. Based on data detailed in the next sections of this report, the table below presents estimates of turnover generated by the local fishing and aquaculture industry. The method is to apply a turnover and gross value added rate estimated form the Annual Economic Report 2009 and economic statics form the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for the fishing fleet, and the Galician fleet register. Estimates for ancillary activities are problematic as there is no information on the breakdown of activities by sector.

Based on these estimation the turnover by the fishing sector Costa da Morte would be around to €15 million, equivalent to 1.5% of the total turnover of Galician fishing fleet estimated around €1 billion in 2009. In total, fisheries related industries generated around 85 millions euros in 2009 in Costa da Morte.

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Table 2: Estimates of turnover generated by the fishing and aquaculture industries (2009, in € million) Turnover (€ million) Fishing fleet 15 Industrial 10 Artisanal 5 Processing 45 Aquaculture 8 Ancillary 2 TOTAL 85 While the fishing fleet sector and the primary processing sector are closely interrelated (with the ancillary sectors to a lesser extent), the aquaculture sector and the secondary processing sector (using mainly imported raw material) can be assumed to be independents from the other sectors from an economic perspective.

One common feature to all municipalities of Costa da Morte is the growth in the number of construction companies while on the other hand, the number of companies in some key sectors for boosting human capital, such as education or research and development (R&D) has reduced or not increased over this period in most of the municipalities. (See figures below). Furthermore, planned cuts in public sector spending are likely to impact the economy from 2010.

For example, in A Laracha municipality the number of companies in the construction grew by 69% between 1998 and 2007. In Cabanas there was an increase in construction while reduction in transports and hotels. In Muxía, it is observed also an increase in contribution and fall in industry, transports and communications and edition.

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Figure 25: Companies for main economic sectors in A Laracha.

Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 26: Companies for main economic sectors in Cabana de Bergantiños. Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 27: Companies for main economic sectors in Camariñas. Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 28: Companies for main economic sectors in Carballo. Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 29: Companies for main economic sectors in Laxe. Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 30: Companies for main economic sectors in Muxía. Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 31: Companies for main economic sectors in Ponteceso. Source: Instituto Galego de Estatistica

In relation to the gross value generated (GVA), we can mention that the average GVA per full time employee is significantly lower in Costa da Morte than the average national value. This is because of the dominance of small firms that do not benefit from economies of scale and the relatively low and sometimes seasonal value of the area products and services.

Traditional industries in Costa da Morte include fishing and fish processing, textile industry (Inditex group in Arteixo), retail and tourism. Fishing and fish processing are discussed in further in sections below. Textile production in Costa da Morte declined following the progressive internationalization and delocalisation of production plants in Galicia.

Costa da Morte stunning landscape, wildlife and heritage continue to attract tourists. Grants and planning incentives have stimulated a number of new camping and accommodation schemes which should improve facilities in 2010. One the most important projects for booting the local tourist industry is the projected Parador de Muxía.

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In fact, tourism in Costa da Morte has grown in recent years. Costa da Morte is an area where the tourism is still an incipient sector and according to some studies3

Renewable energy industries also look set to expand with planning permission having been granted for a large wind farms on several small communities, also several studies highlight the potential of this are for waves generated energy.

with important problems for its development and establishment. Although it has a very valuable tourist potential, there are not sufficient suitable infrastructures and a good tourist equipment, so the endogenous growth is limited for local economies. The tourism can only be an element of economic growth if there are investments and tourist demand and offer diversification.

Finally, It can be also mention that the lack of a generalised broadband internet access can constrain businesses in the rural areas of Costa da Morte.

3.2. Employment and unemployment

Between 2005 and 2007 the unemployment rate reduced in Costa da Morte by 5%, while in Galicia went down by 9% in the same period. The women unemployment in Costa da Morte only went down by 0.5% in the same period of analysis, reflection a more difficult labour market evolution for women in this area.

In Costa da Morte there is a tradition of pluri-activity with workers taking on a number of part time jobs to maintain a reasonable income (traditionally agriculture, fishing or tourism services). Unemployment rates rise in the winter because significant numbers of people are employed in the summer in tourism and primary industries.

Data for 2009 and 2010 show an important increase in the unemployment associated to the construction sector. The economic recession and construction crisis has increased unemployment across Costa da Morte, making workforce redundant from construction and textile to turn its attention in fisheries activities, as we will discuss in next sections.

3 Begoña Besteiro. Caracterizacion socioeconómica y desarrollo del turismo en la "Costa da Morte"

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Figure 32: Unemployment by main sector in A Laracha. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 33: Unemployment by main sector in Cabana de Bergantiños. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 34: Unemployment by main sector in Camariñas. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 35: Unemployment by main sector in Carballo. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 36: Unemployment by main sector in Laxe. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 37: Unemployment by main sector in Muxía. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 38: Unemployment by main sector in Ponteceso. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

The 2001 census found that the proportion of employment in the fishing in relation to total employment (employment dependency), reached values of 27% in Laxe and Camariñas. Detailed recent figures are not available for employment by sector, but estimations provided in the stakeholder interviews point out an employment dependency reduction in previous years jobs to give place to a current increase in the fisheries employment dependency in several municipalities.

In this regard, a breakdown of 2001 and 1991 census data by municipalities showed that fisheries employment dependency has increased in all municipalities except Carballo and Muxía. Fisheries become a more important activity for providing employment. According to interviews with stakeholders this dependency had reduced during the period 2003-2007, in part due to the Prestige oil spill consequences and as younger generations lack the motivation to go to sea when there were better job opportunities onland. However, in the current situation where construction sector and textile are performing weaker, there is an increase in the local workforce offer and interest for engaging in fisheries.

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Local fisheries dependency

0%5%

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Figure 39: Local fisheries dependency in A Laracha. Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica


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Figure 40: Local fisheries dependency in Cabanas de Bergantiños Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica


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Figure 41: Local fisheries dependency in Camariñas Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 42: Local fisheries dependency in Carballo Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica


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Figure 43: Local fisheries dependency in Laxe Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica


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Figure 44: Local fisheries dependency in Muxía Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica

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Figure 45: Local fisheries dependency in Ponteceso Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from Instituto Galego de Estatistica 3.3. The fishing sector

The whole fishing industry provides about 2,800 jobs of which about 1,800 were fishermen, 250 mariscadoras, 750 employees in primary processing, aquaculture and ancillary related sector.

As mentioned below, it is worth mentioning anti-cyclical evolution in the fisheries employment in Costa da Morte. Hence, the fisheries dependency in terms of employment would be currently in the region of 10% of the total employment. This figure includes only the direct employment in the fishing fleet, if we consider also indirect employment, the fisheries dependency in several Communities of Costa da Morte will be between 15-25%.

According to the stakeholders consulted, one of the side effects of this interest in engaging in fisheries activities is the rise of problems of professional intrusion by pensioners, employed person of families with low incomes, etc.

3.4. Infrastructure

Access and communications

Costa da Morte area has been traditionally underdeveloped in term of access and communications. The structural funds (mainly ERDF) have facilitated a clear improvement in the communication network. Currently, the AG55 (Coruña –Carballo) highway facilitates the connection of the area with to the main artery of Galicia, the A9 which connects Vigo and Coruña. There are dual carriage roads (vias rapidas) in the area which improve the connections with AG55 and A9. See figure below.

However, many roads inside Costa da Morte are still with one single carriage (carreteras comarcales) where the reduced speed limits that increase transport times. The connections between the different municipalities of Costa da Morte, the regional administrative centre in la Coruña or Santiago, are served by a private bus service. On the other hand, the connection by regional train service is very limited, only serving to A Laracha.

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Figure 46: Major road network around Costa da Morte Source: Plan Estrategico Zonal de Costa da Morte.

Given the currents connections to A9 major motorway, transport time by lorries from Costa da Morte is about:

- One hour for Santiago de Compostela

- Six hours to Madrid

In any case, the stakeholders consulted believe that the recent progress in road, energy and telecommunication infrastructures have encouraged the Costa da Morte to look to the future with more optimism and hope new sectors such as services and tourism are positively stimulated for these developments

The closest airport is Alvedro, in the proximity of Coruña City. There are a total of eight ports in the area: Caion, Malpica, Corme, Laxe, Arau, Camelle, Camariñas y Muxía The local ports have not a commercial nature for the transport of goods, but dedicated to host the local fishing fleet or in the case of recently constructed puerto deportivo of Muxía to provide shelter to yachting activities.

The public services are well developed in the Costa da Morte area. They include:

-Health sector: Costa da Morte hosts several centres of health care and clinics in each municipality (Centros de salud) and the Hospital Comarcal de Costa da Morte in Cee.

-Training: Costa da Morte has an adequate network of primary and secondary schools and centres for vocational initial training and continuing education; high quality schooling is essential if rural areas are to retain and attract people with families.

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Regarding superior education, students from Costa da Morte must leave to Coruña or Santiago campus 3.5. Local development plans

The local development plan of the fisheries sector in Costa da Morte is guided by the Costa da Morte Fisheries Local Action Group which has presented an strategic plan for the period 2007-2013 (Plan Estratexico Zonal), focused on firstly strengthening the competitiveness of the fisheries sector, secondly in the economic diversification and thirdly in the improvement of environmental quality. This plan will be analysed in detail in the section of public intervention.

These new priorities represent a change in comparison to the strategy pursued during the FIFGs period in which substantial resources were allocated to fisheries infrastructures. In fact, the stakeholders interviewed recognised that there is a need to change the previous approach used in for fisheries funds for Costa da Morte, from allocating abundant resources to the construction and modernization of local fish auctions to concentrate on actions aiming at increasing value added in fisheries products.

Furthermore, there is a specific plan for boosting the tourism in Costa da Morte. The main objectives are the zone recourses setting on worth and tourist use, especially those of cultural and natural type, and the creation of new products from the existent recourses. Likewise there are traced the product policies and strategies design, prices, promotion and marketing, at the same time they will be done actuations to improve the environment. At last, the plan will grant the offer and managerial structure strengthening and integration by means of the setting on worth projects where the managerial co-partnership helps to the creation of its own associative texture.

This Plan foresees the elaboration of a Quality Plan so the settlements of hotel management, restoration, commerce, public services and other links can provide quality services to the tourists who visit the zone.

3.6. Public intervention

After the Prestige oil spill, a special plan (named Plan Galicia) was set up to stimulate the local economy of the areas affected, including Costa da Morte, mainly focusing on the construction of new infrastructures with funds approaching to €12.5 billion. This plan was put on hold or re-orientated after changing the Central Government. In any case, Costa da Morte had received a substantial assistance from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) during the period 2000-06. The actions financed under this fund aimed to promote economic and social cohesion in the area, correcting territorial imbalances. This has been reflected in the construction of several infrastructures as the AG 55 and the vias rapidas that improved the communications of the area. According to the stakeholders consulted this infrastructures are perceived positively from a cost effectiveness view. Other infrastructures however, such as the recent Puerto Deportivo in Muxía have not been perceived as being so socially effectively according to the stakeholders consulted. This report will focus more in the public intervention in the fisheries sector. Especially important in the public intervention scheme for the local fisheries sector is the Costa da Morte FLAG. Its budget of €4.7 million permits the group to be completely

34

separate from LEADER groups. The decision-making body for the group is made up of around 30 individual entities, run by a three full time staff. It is located in Bergatiños. The public intervention by Costa da Morte FLAG is dependent on the advance payments from Regional Administration (Xunta de Galicia), and the scheme of intervention is as follows:

-Local actors (potential beneficiaries) present projects to the FLAG.

-Selection committee of FLAG considers and selects projects.

-FLAG decides the level of funding to be extended to proposed projects and refers selected projects to the Regional Administration for eligibility checks.

-Regional Administration delivers the funding directly to the final beneficiary at the request of the FLAG.

-The FLAG itself receives and manages all funds and therefore makes the payment to the final beneficiaries

-FLAG responsible for the follow-up necessary to ensure effective implementation of projects

The Galician Regional Government (the Xunta) have organised awareness-raising and training seminars for FLAG managers and local stakeholders as well as developing a comprehensive website to facilitate the functioning of the FLAGs.

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4. FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE SECTOR

The value of landings of Costa da Morte was €9.2 million in 2009, with a volume of landings of 4.2 million Kg. Shellfish and octopus catches are the main species for the local artisanal fleet with barnacle (percebe) accounting for 12% of total landed value. This strong reliance on the octopus and barnacle for the local artisanal fisheries makes the sector vulnerable to any change in fishing possibilities and prices, as happened during the Prestige catastrophe.

Table 3: Volume and Value of main species landed into Costa da Morte in 2009

Fish auction Volume of

landings (Kg) Value of landings(€) Baldaio 6,583 45,097 Caión 10,477 74,410 Camariñas 2,675,029 3,852,866 Corme 1,926 62,834 Laxe 173,130 787,156 Malpica 1,800,663 3,880,066 Muxía 10,622 63,845 Río Anllóns 112,143 439,517 Total 4,790,572 9,205,792

Source: Own elaboration based on statistics from "Pesca de Galicia", Xunta de Galicia. There is very limited vivier storage on Costa da Morte to hold live shellfish prior to export and not shellfish processing capacity. Aquaculture is an important primary production sector with turbot being produced in the area.

It is worth highlighting than the landing catches in Costa da Morte has been reducing since 2000 as shown in the figure 2 However, the local production has remained stable or even growing according to stakeholders consulted. The stakeholders explained that this situation is due to the fact that the larger vessels of Costa da Morte land their catches in local ports of Costa da Morte but truck them to the fish auction of Coruña port or in some cases they land directly in the port of Corñna to get better prices.

We can see in the figure below that from 2005 there is an important reduction in the volume of landings registered in the fish auctions of Costa da Morte, while the fish auction of Coruña shows a strong increase in the same period. Taking into account the data and analysis provided by the stakeholder the value of production of fisheries sector in Costa da Morte is around €15 millions, therefore the difference between the landings registered in the fish auction of Costa da Morte (€5.8 millions) is trucked or landed in the port of Coruña. This share corresponds to most of the bigger trawlers, purse seiners, gillnetters and longliners of Costa da Morte.

In the light of these tendency and analyses, and as it has been mentioned by the stakeholders met, several actions cofinanced with FIFG funds to improve the capacity of local fish auction in Costa da Morte are resulting in a low cost-efficiency from a social point of view.

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Evolution of landings 2003- 2009 (volume in tons)

05.000

10.00015.00020.00025.00030.00035.00040.000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Costa daMorte

Corunaport

Figure 47”Evolution of landings Costa da Morte and Coruña port fish auctions. Source: own elaboration based on fisheries statistics from Xunta de Galicia

Barnacle prices in fish auctions (euro per Kg)

05

1015202530354045

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Muxia Coruña

Figure 48: landing price evolution Muxía and Coruña port fish auctions. Source: own elaboration based on fisheries statistics from Xunta de Galicia 4.1. Details of the local fishing fleets

Costa da Morte historically supported a limited fishing fleet, made up of artisanal vessels and several bigger boats involved in the southern hake fishery. In Costa da Morte ports in 2008 there were 240 vessels below 12 meters, 60 with length between 12-18 meters, 14 units of 18-24 meters and 4 vessels of more than 24 meters. Many of the smaller boats are part-time with these fishermen engaged in other jobs including work in the agriculture.

Costa da Morte artisanal fleet fishes with a great variety of passive gears, so called artes menores (traps for octopus or crabs, hooks and palangrillos, netters such as trasmallo, beta, xeito). These vessels operate both in the Galician coastal and estuarine waters known as Rías, leaving and returning to port in a day. The activity of

37

this artes menores fleet is based mainly on catches of crustaceans (spider crab, velvet swimming crab and shrimp), cephalopods (octopus, squid) and coastal fish species.

Table 4: Fishing vessels operating from Costa da Morte Number of vessels Costa da Morte 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 < 12 meters 264 269 268 251 240 12 -18 meters 67 66 66 62 60 18-24 meters 14 13 13 13 14 > 24 meters 5 5 5 5 4 TOTAL 350 353 352 331 318

Source:"Pesca de Galicia", Xunta de Galicia

The number of vessels registered in Costa da Morte decreased by 9% from 2004 to 2008 (Figure). More attrctive jobs in othe sectors onland and the Prestige oil spill impacts resulted in the loss of active vessels in the local fleet.

050

100150200250300350400

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

< 12 meters 12 -18 meters 18-24 meters > 24 meters

Figure 49: Costa da Morte fleet segment changes in number. Source:"Pesca de Galicia", Xunta de Galicia

38

Table 5: Fleet segments in Port of Caion

Segment (length class)

Number of vessels

main gears used

Number of crew (average)

Main species fished (list at least 3 and up to 5 for all fleet types)

Main fishing locations (ICES areas)

Trip length (average days) GT KW

00-12 7 Artisanal 2

Barnacle, octopus, bivalves VIIIc 1 21.9 161.8

012-24 2

Coastal purse seiner 7

Sardine, horse mackerel, mackerel VIIIc 1 27.6 110.3

Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia.

Table 6: Fleet segments in Port of Camariñas


Number of vessels

main gears used





00-12 62

ARTISANAL (Artes Menores) 2

Barnacle, octopus, bivalves VIIIc 1 202.8 1,525.05

012-24 9

COASTAL PURSE SEINER 5

Sardine, horse mackerel, mackerel VIIIc 1 333.05 1,286.95

24-40 1

BOTTOM LONGLINER 15 Hake VIIIc 3 132 180.17

Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia.

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Table 7: Fleet segments in Port of Camelle


Number of vessels

main gears used





00-12 59



012-24 1

BOTTOM LONGLINER 12 Hake VIIIc 3 18.74 92.66

Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia. Table 8: Fleet segments in Port of Corme


Number of vessels

main gears used





012-24 1 Bottom trawler 15 Hake VIIIc 3 250.6 367.7

00-12 23


Barnacle, octopus, bivalves VIIIc 1 124.7 752.3

012-24 2 GILL NET 5 Hake VIIIc 2 130.3 247.1 Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia.

Table 9: Fleet segments in Port of Laxe


Number of vessels

main gears used





00-12 44



012-24 3 GILL NET 5 Hake VIIIc 2 181.5 327.3 Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia.

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Table 10: Fleet segments in Port of Malpica


Number of vessels

main gears used





00-12 52



012-24 12

COASTAL PURSE SEINER 5

Sardine, horse mackerel, mackerel VIIIc 1 325,0 1,623.8

012-24 1

BOTTOM LONGLINER 5 Hake VIIIc 2 29,5 158.1

012-24 2 GILL NET 5 Hake VIIIc 2 45,8 169.88 Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia.

Table 11: Fleet segments in Port of Muxía


Number of vessels

main gears used





24-40 2 Bottom trawler 15 Hake VIIIc 3 404,0 603.0

00-12 25

ARTISANAL (Artes menores) 2

Barnacle, octopus, bivalves VIIIc 1 33,8 358.4

012-24 7

BOTTOM LONGLINER 15 Hake VIIIc 2 499,5

1,608.3

012-24 2 GILL NET 5 Hake VIIIc 2 65,5 228.0 Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia.

4.2. Fish stock status

Key quota species

Hake: The southern hake stock recovery plan is combined with that for Nephrops in FU 25 and 31. Fishing mortality for southern hake has increased in recent years and is currently near Flim. Based on the 2009 estimates of SSB and fishing mortality, ICES

41

classifies the stock as suffering reduced reproductive capacity and at risk of being harvested unsustainably.

Nephrops: In regards to Nephrops in FU 25 and 31, available information indicates that the stock is at a very low abundance level and landings per unit of effort (LPUE) shows an overall decreasing trend. After a period with quite variable LPUE until 1993, LPUE remained relatively stable at around 40 kg/trip between 1993 and 1997. Since then LPUE has fluctuated at a low level and declined further in 2008 to 9.9 kg/trip, the lowest recorded value in the time series.

Key non-quota species

The goose barnacle, Pollicipes pollicipes, represents one of the most important fisheries resources along the coast of Galicia and particularly in Costa da Morte, indeed its commercial value has steadily increased as its consumption in different regions of the country has risen.

During the 1970s the levels of the illegal catch were so high that strong management measures were implemented (although weakly enforced at the time). During the early 90s the Galician autonomous government introduced further regulations in order to improve the management of several its marine resources. Decree 59/1992 in particular, which refers to the harvesting of sedentary shellfish in Galician waters, has contributed to the implementation of a co-management system where the mariscadores and their organizations, the cofradías, are responsible for organizing the fishing activities by presenting annual plans, where fishing, surveillance and the marketing processes are established.

The implementation of this management scheme permitted the creation of a system of territorial use rights for fishers (TURFs) by allocating segments of coastline to the individual fishermen’s organisations which manage the resources independently. Although Pollicipes is still heavily exploited, the risk of the population collapsing is naturally mitigated as a result of a series of factors including, the very high resilience of the species, high growth rates and the suitability and extension of adequate habitat coupled with the fact the access to these habitats is greatly restricted due to the harsh climatic conditions observed during a large portion of the year.

It is also worth mentioning that studies have indicated a substantial reduction in the overall abundance of Pollicipes (and many other intertidal species) following the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige in 2002 and the resulting oil spill, due to habitat contamination4

With respect to the common octopus stocks in Galician waters, namely Octopus vulgaris, there are no reliable assessments despite a few attempts in the past to model the effect of fishing on the various sub-populations. This species has shown to be highly adaptable and therefore populations have shown great resilience to fishing pressure. Fishing for this species is done almost exclusively by the artisanal fleet (over 99% of all landings), and the species is only occasionally caught by other fleets.

.

4 Pulpeiro, E.F., 2007. Recartografado e dinámica de poboacións de especies de invertebrados mariños asociadas a substratos rochosos da Costa da Morte. Informe final – Outubro 2007, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.

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Table 12: Management and status of key fisheries for Costa da Morte

Species ICES Area

Management responsibility

Stock status relative to MSY (above, near, below, unknown)

main management regulations affecting the stock e.g. Area closures, quotas, specific recovery plans

Octopus vulgaris VIIIc Regional Gov Unknown Management plan Hake (southern hake stock) VIIIc

EU-Spanish Gov below Management plan

Barnacle VIIIc Regional Gov Unknown Area closure and quotas

Cockle VIIIc Regional Gov Unknown Area closure and quotas

Horse mackerel VIIIc EU-Spanish Gov Below TAC, quotas

Clams VIIIc Regional Gov Unknown Area closure and quotas

Costa da Morte local fishing activities can be classified into one of three main categories:

(a) Bivalve shellfishers (marisqueo) (in the intertidal zone either on foot or using boats in the estuaries and rías).

(b) The artisanal fleet is made up of inshore boat-based fishers (both bivalve shell-fishers and inshore fishers exploiting the exclusive economic zone).

The inshore fishery carries out its activity in the waters of the continental shelf of Costa da Morte. This sector comprises a fleet that fishes on the continental shelf, and a fleet that operates in the estuaries (rías) and coastal waters. Inshore and marisqueo stocks are managed by Conselleria del Mar from Xunta de Galicia.

From a biological viewpoint5

(c) Offshore fishers. These stocks are managed by EU institutions, being the most important the southern hake fishery.

, the small scale fisheries operating off the Costa da Morte coast are multi-specific and multi-gear, exploiting a diverse array of species, mainly sedentary benthic or mobile benthic/demersal invertebrates with life-cycle phases that occur in shallow waters close to the coastline.

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Value generated by each fleet segment of Costa da Morte in 2009.

14%

35%35%

7%9%

Trawlers

Artisanal

Coastal purseseiner

Bottomlongliner

Gillnets

Figure 50: Share of value generated by each fleet segment in Costa da Morte. Source: Own elaboration from fisheries statistics published by Xunta de Galicia and AER statistics.

According to local stakeholders, there is an important demand for entering in the fishing activity. For example, according to the stakeholder met there is currently a ‘waiting list’ of 300 women wishing to become mariscadoras in Camariñas.

4.3. Details of the local processing sub-sector

The fish processing sector in Costa da Morte represented around 4% of the total in Galicia in 2005 with €45 millions of turnover.

Table 13: Turnover Volumes and Concentration, 2005. Zone

Turnover 2005 (€)

Percentage (%)

Vigo Zone 251,170,464 20.84 Morrazo Zone 51,995,761 4.31 Salnés Region 83,231,336 6.90 Pontevedra Zone 37,230,062 3.08 Barbanza Peninsula 586,451,498 48.68 Costa Da Morte 45,364,724 3.76 North Coruña Zone 148,061,639 12.28 Lugo Zone 1,460,000 0.12 Total Turnover 1,204,965,484

The main fish processing factory in the area is Calvo S.A. in the municipality of Carballo. There are also several smaller companies in the municipalities of Camariñas and Muxía. It is worth mentioning that most of the workforce employed is women.

Another feature of the sector is that it works with a relatively reduced number of species: tuna, sardine, mussels and cockle. The links with the local fleet are limited, except when seasonally canning cockle and sardine.

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4.4. Details of the local aquaculture sub-sector

There are several aquaculture onshore installations producing turbot in the area. There is not mussel aquaculture in the area (bateas). Overall, the employment from aquaculture sector in Costa da Morte is rising.

4.5. Details of the local ancillary sub-sector

The activities of fishing nets reparation are important in the area. Furthermore, most of the persons engaged in this activity are women, a collective which we saw in the unemployment analysis that has larger unemployment rate. In the meeting with stakeholders, this collective complained that its activities were not covered by the European Fishing Fund, while its activity contributes to diversify the economic activity of the community. Other ancillary industries include small scale shipyards, creel manufacturer, fish shops, fish transport and engineering services to vessels.

In any case, it is difficult to assess the ancillary sector directly related to the fishing industry. There are various companies (for example, boat yards, forges, mechanical units) which worked mainly for fisheries in the past and still continue, but at a lower level. For some of these companies, the fishing industry is only a minor part of their market, although for some it may represent an important contribution. Overall, the shipbuilding, repair and services industry based in Costa da Morte is estimated to employ approximately 450 people.

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5. GOVERNANCE

5.1. Key local institutions

In Costa da Morte, as well as the other parts of Galicia, the institutional management consist of a co-management system between fishers' organisations (cofradias) and the fisheries authority through territorial user rights for fishing (TURFs). In this framework, the exploitation is granted to the cofradias since 1992 after presentation of an annual plan of exploitation and management, where fishing (daily allocation of effort, maximum individual quotas and area of exploitation), surveillance and the commercialisation processes are established. Plans are designed by cofradı́as, following the requirements of the generic official model and then are evaluated by fishery biologists of the public administration. In Costa da Morte FLAG there are five cofradías (Caión, Muxía, Camariñas y Malpica) and two organizations of mariscadoras (Anllóns y Baldaio). The working way for each cofradia can differ, but essentially they are based around similar roles:

1. The organisation includes all the fishermen that are working in their geographical area.

2. The institution has a democratic structure with two representative groups: the owners and the crew. Each group elects the same number of members in the Executive bodies.

3. In some cases, the desegregation by gears is established (trawl is normally the most important, but is possible to establish sections for purse seine, long line, shell gathering or other minor gears called artisanals).

4. It is compulsory for the members to sell at the auction market associated with the organisation. Nowadays, the most part of them are electronically equipped and provide basic data on landings to the administration.

5. To support the administrative cost of the organisation a levy on sales of between 1.5 and 3% is levied.

6. The organisations are non-profits. Any surplus is used to improve the infrastructures (normally the organisations provide shops with vessel equipment, gears, ice, etc.) or redistribute it to the members (i.e. as additional pension to retired members or widows, to pay ritual holidays, etc.).

7. Under the general laws and rules established by the European Commission, Spanish Ministry and Regional Government of Galicia, the organisations can establish additional rules: control the fishing time, accept or forbid fishing gears in the area, accept or not new members, establish areas or time of closures, etc.

8. The importance of this institution is their control and punishment power. All members participate in the surveillance of collective agreements and the transgressor is punished in real time at the market: their products are not allowed to be sold in the market or they are forced to sell last (resulting in lower prices). Other forms of sanction include social isolation or exclusion from the collective services (shops, ice, bar, etc.).

As the traditional bodies in Spain for facilitating organisation within the coastal fisheries sector and representing their interests in the broader community, the cofradías tend to be heavily involved in the Spanish FLAGs. Indeed, many of them have years of experience in promoting local development within the sector. In Galicia a minimum of 50% of actors in the decision-making body of the partnership are expected to be representatives from the fisheries sector - many of these actors are from the cofradias as well as from producer associations and associations of women shellfish gatherers Mariscadoras which figure particularly strongly in Galicia.

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Public bodies also are properly represented by members from public bodies such as local councils, town halls and chambers of commerce, NGOs and often nature reserves. Thus, other stakeholders in Costa da Morte FLAG include municipalities (Malpica, Camariñas, Muxía, etc), social entities, (such as Íntegro, Asociacion Xuvenil PX, Torre Pujales asociacion) and also sectoral professional organisation (Fecom, Axober, Redeiras O Fieital, Comercializadores de Peixe de Malpica, etc.). 5.2. Public intervention

Table 6 presents the public sector investment under the 2000-2006 FIFG programme. Most public sector investment has been associated with the port sector and particularly, fish auctions, enabling upkeep and upgrading harbour and first sale infrastructures.

Other sources of more general economic development support to the area include ERDF, with substantial investments like the Muxía Puerto deportivo.

A number of investments related to the fishing port have been financed with the FIFGs (2000-2006) and currently with the EFF. For example, Muxía fish auction construction (inaugurated in 2002) cost around 400,000 Euros, requiring several additional investments to adapt to the sanitary conditions, IT system implementation and repairs after the Prestige oil cleaning tasks.

Furthermore, even it was not financed under FIFGs but ERDF, it is worth mentioning the Muxía Puerto Deportivo, with a cost around €2.6 million (inaugurated in 2007, but completed in 2009) and offering 233 yachting berths.

Table 14: FIFG funding in fishing vessels and infrastructure (2000-2006) Public investment

Source of funding

What was the investment intended to achieve?

What were the expected outcomes?

What were the outcomes?

Camariñas municipality

€657,000 FIFG/State Fish auction hall

Maintaining activities of landings and first sale of local fishing in Camariñas port

Declining landings sold in the local fish auction.

Larger vessels of Costa da Morte land their catches in local ports of Costa da Morte but truck them to the fish auction of Coruña port or in some cases they land directly in the port of Coruña.

47

€585,000 FIFG/State Storage facilities

Maintaining activities of landings and first sale of local fishing in Camariñas port.


€311,000 FIFG/State Platform to elevate vessels

Support to local fishing fleet reparation activities

Reduction of maintenance costs for local fleets.

€526,000 FIFG/State Ice making facilities

Support to artisanal local fishing fleet.

Improving catch quality


Improvement in quality of fish landed by local artisanal fleet.

€126,000 FIFG/State IT system implementation in the fish auction

Improving first sale process.

€45,000 FIFG/State Two vehicles for the cofradía

Support to management activities of local cofradía

More participation of cofradia representatives in meetings and support to services given to the members of cofradia.

€40,000 FIFG/State Electricity generator

Support to local fisheries infrastructures

Variable FIFG/State Temporary cessation

Variable FIFG/State New construction of vessels

Malpica municipality

€3.5 million FIFG/State fish auction and fishing

Maintaining activities of

Declining landings sold

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port renovation landings and first sale of local fishing in Malpica port

in the local fish auction.




Muxía municipality

€400,000 FIFG/State Muxía fish auction construction

Maintaining activities of landings and first sale of local fishing in Muxia port

Declining of landings sold in the local fish auction.


€2.6 million ERDF Muxía Puerto Deportivo

Promoting the nautical tourism in the area.

The port was inaugurated in 2009, its impact in developing local tourism has been moderate so

49

far.



In the rest fishing ports of Costa da Morte, such as Corme, similar investments aiming at modernization the local fish auction were carried out, (e.g., IT system implementation in fish auction, improvements in the operational conditions, etc).

Therefore, we see that the investment in the modernization of the local fishing auction have been substantial during 2000-20006. Taking into account the mentioned situation in which around one third of the value of catches of the local fleet are currently trucked or landed in the port of Coruña due to better prices or more buyers, several stakeholders interviewed put into question the cost-efficiency of these FIFG financed projects. The observed (low cost-effectivness) outcome of the investment in Costa da Morte was due to better first sale prices in the big fish auction of neighbour port of city of Coruña than in the fish auctions of small communities of Costa da Morte. I Coruña port, no more than 30 km from Costa da Morte concentrates a more regular offer and concurrence of more buyers (see earlier sections).

In this line, the stakeholders of the Costa da Morte Fisheries Local Action Group, has presented a plan Plan Estratexico Zonal which deviates from the previous approach allocating abundant resources to the construction and modernization of local fish auctions to concentrate on actions aiming at increasing value added in fisheries products. The Plan Estratexico Zonal for the period 2007-2013 focused on firstly strengthening the competitiveness of the fisheries sector, secondly in the economic diversification and thirdly in the improvement of environmental quality.Each of these 3 axes has the following lines of actions and budgets:

-Axis 1: strengthening the competitiveness of the fisheries sector with the following lines of actions:

Line 1: improvement of marketing of fisheries products through the auction sites of Costa da Morte, allocated with a total budget of €1,840,000

Line 2: creation of activity clusters (for each type of fishery)

Line 3: carry out R&D fisheries related projects; “Innovation in Costa da Morte”

-Axis 2: Economic diversification with a total budget of €2,759,300 with the following lines of actions:

Line 1: Sea museums

Line 2: Costal tourism infrastructures

Line 3: Fishing tourism

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Line 4: Support to new entrepreneurs

Line 5: Support to local events

-Axis 3: Improvement of environmental quality with a total budget €1,960,000 with the following lines of actions:

Line 1: Improvement in the environmental quality.

Line 2: Support to business projects focus on environmental questions

Line 3: Support to recover monumental and ethnographic wealth

Line 4: Conservation of natural areas and beaches.

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6. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

The following details the key stakeholders. All have been met during the study. As required in the methodology adopted for this study, the data collected during the first step and the trends observed have been shown to a selected group of stakeholder belonging to the community of Costa da Morte.

The approach followed during the focus group was aimed to validate the trend identified on the data available, look for additional data and information, debate on the potential future development and diversification of community socio-economic structure. The list of stakeholders contacted is reported in the following table.

Genaro

AMIGO

Patrón Mayor

Cofradía de Malpica

+ 34 981720011

Julia HAZ President association Mariscadoras "Rio Anllons".

+ 34 670397893

Ignacio

CASTRO

Manager

Cofradía Muxía

+ 34 981742039

Tina

CASTIÑEIRA

Secretary

Cofradía Camelle

+ 34 981710106

Dolores

BERMUDEZ

President association Mariscadoras Camariñas

+ 34

981737219

Manuel

COUSILLAS

Patrón Mayor Cofradía Corme + 34

655962539

Outside of sector, in the wider community:

Angeles MILLE President netter association “O Fieitaz” Malpica

+ 34 617695230

Guillermo

GONZÁLEZ

Manager

Local Action Group of Costa da Morte

+ 34

981711070

[email protected]

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]�

mailto:[email protected]�

52

7. QUALITATIVE INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

7.1. Key events and drivers of change

Population and economy

The population decline in Costa da Morte was due to structural changes based on employment reduction on local traditional sectors such as agriculture and fisheries while growing job opportunities in other more attractive jobs in the neighbour cities, and ‘life-style’ choice with residents moving to the cities such as A Coruña or Santiago to enjoy a greater range of services and job opportunities.

Local companies usually operate with a low GVA per employee not only because of the dominance of small and familiar firms that do not benefit from economies of scale, with very low innovation capacity, but also from the seasonal nature of many local economic activities, such as coastal tourism.

One common feature to all municipalities of Costa da Morte is the growth in the number of construction companies while on the other hand, the number of companies in some key sectors for boosting human capital, such as education or research and development, has reduced or not increased over last years.

With respect to the increasing numbers of construction businesses up to 2007, this was primarily driven by a construction boom experienced in many Spanish coastal areas. However, the main driver for increased unemployment in recent years has been the global economic crisis which has affected all local sectors, particularly construction and services in the area.

Labour market shows an important seasonality in this area. Unemployment rates in Costa da Morte rise periodically in the winter because significant numbers of people are employed in the summer in tourism and primary industries. While strong rises in unemployment in 2008-2010 were driven by the mentioned associated loss of activity in construction, industry and services due the economic recession and construction crisis.

Fisheries

With regards to the data and trends described earlier, some key drivers are as follows:

Costa da Morte historically supported a limited fishing fleet, made up of artisanal vessels and several bigger boats involved in the southern hake fishery. Many of the smaller boats are part-time with these fishermen engaged in other jobs including work in the agriculture.

The main fisheries for the local communities are southern hake and artisanal fisheries such as barnacle and octopus, with most of these stocks in a status of overexploitation.

The institutional management of local fish resources consist of a co-management system between fishers' organisations (cofradias) and the fisheries authority through territorial user rights for fishing. In this framework, the exploitation is granted to the cofradias after presentation of an annual management plan.

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It is worth highlighting than the landing catches in Costa da Morte has been reducing since 2000. However, the local production has remained stable or even growing according to stakeholders consulted. In this context, local statistics reflect a substantial reduction in the volume of landings registered in the fish auctions of Costa da Morte, while the fish auction of Coruña shows a steady increase in the same period. This situation is due to the fact that the larger vessels of Costa da Morte land their catches in local ports of Costa da Morte but truck them to the fish auction of Coruña port or in some cases they land directly in the port of Coruña to get better prices.

Other activities linked to the fishing industry in this territory with a positive impact in the local employment are tuna canning and turbot aquaculture. The activities of fishing nets reparation are also important in the area. Furthermore, most of the persons engaged in these activities are women, a collective that has a much larger unemployment rate in this area.

The local fishing sector has faced a number of significant threats in recent years, most importantly declines in first sale prices and quotas, as well as the impact of the Prestige oil spill. This has resulted in corresponding declines in fisheries employment, tendency which has been revered in the economic crisis period.

In any case, the fisheries dependency of several Costa da Morte communities has been and continues traditionally high. This dependence is the result of both the availability of local fish resources, but also the difficulties in developing other economic activities due to the location of Costa da Morte and its underdevelopment in terms of infrastructure connections in relation to other Spanish coastal communities.

7.2. Adaptation

An ageing population and reliance on transporting goods to a dispersed population has been limiting private sector investment in Costa da Morte and there has been a significant reliance on public sector transfers and investment. The public sector, primary sector, construction and tourism are the major sources of local employment and there is a prevalence of seasonal and part time work

The adaptive response of those becoming unemployed in recent years from construction and services, has been to turn their attention in primary sectors (fishing and agriculture activities). According to the stakeholders consulted, one of the side effects of this interest in engaging in fishing activities prompted by the current economic crisis is the rise of furtivism by unemployed person of families with low incomes, etc.

Employment in the fishing fleet fell since 2000. Taken in association with general economic trends and rising employment overall in the economy up until 2007/8 and then declines, this helps to explain perceptions in the community that fisheries deployment dependency has increased in the last year or so.

7.3. The future

Costa da Morte communities face a high unemployment rate and planned cuts in public sector spending which are likely to impact the local economy from 2010 and create uncertainty in the timing for finalization of future infrastructure projects.

However, significant progress has been done so far in terms of infrastructure and social services development. There are recent attempts of promoting nature and ethnographic tourism as a way to improve and diversify the local economy in A Costa

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da Morte. The Parador of Muxia is likely to be a key element to further boost tourism in this area.

In this context, the stakeholders consulted believe that the recent progress in road, energy and telecommunication infrastructures have encouraged the Costa da Morte to look to the future with more optimism as new sectors such as services and tourism are positively stimulated for these developments

Furthermore, the Costa da Morte Fisheries Local Action Group has presented a development plan “Plan Estratexico Zonal” which deviates from the previous approach allocating abundant resources to the construction and modernization of local fish auctions to concentrate on actions aiming at increasing value added in fisheries products. The Plan Estratexico Zonal for the period 2007-2013 focused on firstly strengthening the competitiveness of the fisheries sector, secondly in the economic diversification and thirdly in the improvement of environmental quality. This approach is expected to contribute effectively to diversify the economic base of local communities of Costa da Morte. The new strategy of the FLAF Costa da orte comprises specific actions aiming at increasing valued of fish products, promoting costal tourism, innovation and support to local entrepreneur. These actions are perceived by the stakeholder as key elements to diversify and strengthen the economic base in fishing communities of Costa da Morte.

7.4. The role of public intervention

Substantial public resources in fisheries has been associated with fish port infrastructures and particularly, fish auctions, enabling to upkeep and upgrade harbour and first sale infrastructures of Costa da Morte ports.

Other sources of more general economic development support to the area include ERDF, with also important investments in the local ports, like the Muxía Puerto Deportivo.

In this context, most of the public support to Costa da Morte fisheries sector has been materialized in the form of the new fish auctions and port infrastructures. In spite of this modernization effort, an increasing share of local fleet catches is not sold in Costa da Morte fish auctions but in Coruña fish auction. This share corresponds to most of the bigger trawlers, purse seiners, gillnetters and longliners of Costa da Morte looking for better first sale prices in Coruna gish auction. In the light of these tendency and analyse, several actions co-financed with FIFG funds to improve the capacity of local fish auction in Costa da Morte could be resulting in a relatively low cost-efficiency from a social point of view.

7.5. Conclusion

In conclusion, this report has demonstrated a number of trends and important factors with regards to the fisheries sector and the wider economy in Costa da Morte communities. The area is very strongly dependent on the fishing sector, especially on the artisanal fleet and southern hake fleet.

This dependence is the result of both the availability of local fish resources, but also the difficulties in developing other economic activities due to the location of Costa da Morte and its tradionally poor infrastructure connections.

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However, the recent progress in infrastructures, the environmental resources of the area, as well as the recovery of the local fish stocks productivity after the Prestige Oil Spill have encouraged Costa da Morte communities to look to the future with more optimism and hope both in the local fisheries sector as well as in new activities of coastal and environmental tourism positively stimulated for the outstanding environmental and cultural values of the Costa da Morte.

european commission · cabana de bergantiños and malpica with reduction over 10%. over the same...

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