Social Economy entities to support small-scale fishing: some important success cases in the context of Next Generation Funds

Abstract

The year 2022 is the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. The choice of this moment is intended to provide an important milestone for assessing progress towards the goal of “supporting small-scale fisheries” and to share good practices worldwide. However, it can be difficult to measure this goal, so it is necessary to begin by recognising the undoubted importance of this type of fishing and selecting the appropriate interlocutors to implement a valid plan of action. The timing of the Next Generation Funding for transformation to help implement an action plan is also important. Among the good practices in Marine Planning for the promotion of Small-Scale Fishing (SSF), we wish to highlight those derived from the contribution of Social Economy (SE) entities as they have the potential to form its central axis. SE entities are key as they have proven to be a successful method of achieving different objectives related to job creation, inequality reduction, promotion of local investment and social protection, and they are environmentally responsible with regard to support for artisanal and small-scale fishing. Thus, the purpose of this work is to share the success stories of different types of SE entities in the case of Spain (fishermen's associations, foundations, associations and cooperatives) in the implementation of the latter objective above. Promoting sustainable and small-scale artisanal fishing via public policies for SE entities is essential to achieving such aims. Moreover, in the context of Next Generation Projects, collaboration with this kind of entity is extremely beneficial for a project’s success.