Modernisation of Traditional Economic Industries: Fishing in Galicia (Spain). The Public Administration as Advocacy Actor

[Introduction]. The purpose of this paper is analyzing the reform and modernization process of fishing industry in Galicia (Spain) during the 1989-1998 period in the framework of the Autonomous Community and the European Union Administrations performance. The fishing industry is identified as a strategic sector in the Galician economy, either in the direct way for its contribution to the GNP (9%), to the employment creation and balance of trade, or indirect in the generation of an important volume of complementary and services activities. The fishing relevance as a productive activity must be considered also, valuing its multiplier effect over the coastal economies. Fishing industry involves: distant water fishing (in international and third countries waters), coastal and inshore fishing (in interior and community waters), aquaculture (including shellfishing), companies dealing with processing of sea food (canneries, refrigerating companies, frozen products companies, etc.), auxiliary sector (shipyards, raw material suppliers, packaging, machinery...) and marketing sector. The wide range of sectors has taken us to select a case study, shellfishing, based on three reasons: i) in the power distribution between the Spanish Government and the Autonomous Community of Galicia, shellfishing constitutes an exclusive domain of the later, that allows an analysis of its performance in the industry ordination and promotion; ii) it’s one of the most traditional and rooted socioculturally sector in Galicia; iii) the primitive development of its exploitation model.