Abstract
This chapter analyzes the transformation of on-foot shellfish gathering in Galicia, a traditional activity developed primarily by women under a free access regime. Nowadays, many of the areas where this activity flourishes are in a situation of active co-governance that employs a type of licensing system. Shellfisher organizations plan and control exploitation with the support of the government, even using seeding techniques to regenerate areas that were previously degraded. This process has not been easy, as it has resulted in a strong reduction of persons linked to the activity. Moreover, in the current economic crisis it is menaced by a surge in poaching. Despite the advantages of including women in co-management processes, in terms of equity, legitimacy and inclusiveness, enhancing the capacity of user groups and civil society to cope with the tasks involved in co-governance situations constitutes a serious challenge.
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- 1.
In the French original: “On ne naît pas femme: on le devient” (de Beauvoir 1990 [1949], 13).
- 2.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, European funding helped overcome some of these shortcomings. “The role of women in the fisheries sector,” was drawn up by Elliott MacAlister for the European Commission (MacAlister 2002). In January 2003, the Commission sponsored a conference on the role of women in the fisheries sector. The FEMMES project (contract no. Q5Tn.2002-01560-CGE, D.G Fisheries), coordinated by the University of Brest (France), was particularly significant in this area, both analytically and politically. The project staged three workshops for women in fisheries from different parts of Europe and also served as the basis for the conference, “Women in fisheries and aquaculture: lessons from the past, current actions and ambitions for the future”, held in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and funded jointly with the Xunta de Galicia (www.fishwomen.org). Data gathered during the project form the basis of this chapter. A more recent publication, “The role of women in the sustainable development of European fisheries areas” (Frangoudes et al. 2008a), is also related to the FEMMES project and to the findings of this chapter. Special mention must be made of Begoña Marugán Pintos’s (2004) work, one of the key empirical sources for this chapter.
- 3.
This Social Security of the Sea constitutes a special branch of the social security in Spain devoted only to workers of the sea, including many other ancillary activities. It is managed by the Social Institute of the Sea (Instituto Social de la Marina), see http://www.seg-social.es/prdi00/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&dID=72917&Rendition=Web, accesed 28 November 2011.
- 4.
Data provided by the Social Institute of the Sea (SIS) in 2003.
- 5.
Until 1978, cofradías were the sole organizations representing ship-owners and crewmembers. Royal Decree 670/78 ended the compulsory membership of cofradías for industrial fleet owners and crews. Subsequently, owners of industrial fleets created their own organizations and crewmembers joined trade unions. Today, members of cofradías are boats owners and crewmembers of artisanal fisheries. They are equally represented in their governing bodies. In Galicia, shellfish gatherers are included in artisanal fisheries and are therefore members of cofradías. Owing to their importance and specificities, shellfishers can create their own section (agrupación de mariscadoras) inside cofradías. The cofradía is managed by a chair (patrón mayor) and by two other governing bodies: the general committee and the cabildo (Pascual-Fernández et al. 2005: 161). In the past, the position of patrón mayor was usually held by experienced fishermen but today this is no longer the case and some time women involved in shellfishing have assumed this role in some cofradías. In Galicia, cofradías manage fisheries activity, first-sell auctions, and provide accounting services for their members. See also Alegret (1996, 1998, 1999), Pascual-Fernandez (1999), and Erkoreka Gervasio (1991).
- 6.
Harvesters only needed to be Spanish, aged over 16, live in the maritime province where licenses were issued, and be included in the shellfisher census of the local cofradía.
- 7.
Decree 116/1987, on May 14th, of the regional government of Galicia established new requirements for obtaining a shellfishing license. It was now necessary to follow a training course; this marked a turning-point for the professionalization of shellfishing in Galicia.
- 8.
Since 2008, due to the economic crisis in Spain and Galicia, poaching in shellfish beds has been on the rise. Surveillance in these areas is usually difficult, and organized groups of poachers are known to use violence occasionally against enforcers.
- 9.
See http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1999/12/31/pdfs/A46461-46462.pdf. The minimum wage in Spain for 2011 is 641,40 euro, see http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2010/12/31/pdfs/BOE-A-2010-20150.pdf
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Frangoudes, K., Marugán-Pintos, B., Pascual-Fernandez, J.J. (2013). Gender in Galician Shell-Fisheries: Transforming for Governability. In: Bavinck, M., Chuenpagdee, R., Jentoft, S., Kooiman, J. (eds) Governability of Fisheries and Aquaculture. MARE Publication Series, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6107-0_13
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