Recreational fishing rules

All along the coast

• Sea bass, pollack, sole, hake and albacore, among others: log every catch in the PescaREC app within 24 hours, including those you release.
• Selling or trading your catch is banned.
• If a fish is under the minimum size, return it alive.

Offshore: national rules

Beyond the baselines (the straight line joining the headlands) the waters are outer waters, ruled by Royal Decree 347/2011.

• Licences are still issued by a region; from shore you follow the rules of the region whose coast you fish.
• Sea bass: 42 cm in the Cantabrian Sea and Northwest.
• From boats: handline, rod, trolling line, volantín and squid jig; at most 2 electric reels per boat.Boat
• 300 m from professional fishing boats (500 m from pole-and-line tuna fishing), 148 m from their gear and 200 m from aquaculture sites.BoatSpearfishing
• Attracting fish is banned, especially with lights, except chumming with small pelagics.BoatSpearfishing
• Spearfishing: free-diving by day only, buoy within 25 m, speargun unloaded out of the water and no diving gear on board; lights (except a hand torch) and scooters banned.Spearfishing
• Species under special protection (annex II): the boat needs an authorisation from the General Secretariat for Fisheries.Boat