La propiedad en el mar: acceso a los recursos y territorios de pesca. Las cofradías de mareantes de la costa vasca (XIV - finales del siglo XIX

Abstract

Until the last quarter of the past century, fishing in the Basque Country was a private activity of the fishermen belonging to the Maritime Guilds. Nobody out from these associations could fish and sell the product along the Basque coastal side. In fact, the fishing industry was a monopoly of few people. This paper deals with the origin and the reasons that sustained the regime which permitted this special situation and regulated this economic activity. Apart from that, we attempt to explain the way that fishing was organised(specially how the guilds limited the access to the resource) and which were the changes and transformations that the traditional fishing structure suffered after this sole right disappeared.