Recent European policy highlights the need to promote local fishery and aquaculture by means of innovation and joint participation in fishery management as one of the keys to achieve the sustainability of our seas. However, the implicit assumptions held by the actors in the two main groups involved - innovators (scientists, businessmen and administration managers) and local fishermen - can complicate, perhaps even render impossible, mutual understanding and co-operation. A qualitative analysis of interviews with members of both groups in the Valencian Community (Spain) reveals those latent assumptions and their impact on the respective practices. The analysis shows that the innovation narrative in which one group is based and the inventions narrative used by the other one are rooted in two dramatically different, or even antagonistic, collective worldviews. Any environmental policy that implies these groups should take into account these strong discords.

Industrial aquacultur has become one of the main protagonists both on the coasts and in international policy aimed at regulating matters concerning the sea. This new role is reflected in the recently adopted Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union, where the need to promote the sector and the involvement with other local actors, specifically artisanal fishermen, is highlighted. However, the official promotion of this activity could be overvaluing its benefits while, at the same time, undervaluing the new barriers that it is introducing in fisheries co-management. Centered in Valencian Community (Spain) and through a qualitative methodology, this paper examines the views and positions of stakeholders directly involved in aquaculture activity (biologists, aquaculture businessmen and policy managers) on the possibilities of joint participation. It is concluded that eroding the detected mistrust among stakeholders through "hybrid forms of participation" would be a necessary prerequisite to setting up a common framework for involvement leading to an effective co-management.

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The management of Spanish coastal fisheries is based on a mixed model where the centralised action of the government is combined with the self‐organisation of fishers in cofradías (guilds). These institutions have economic and political functions, intermediating between the State and the fishing sector and mediating in the conflicts that may occur. They also have welfare and mutualist tasks. This original and traditional co‐management model is part of the social capital of traditional Spanish fishing. The aim of this article is to explore the possibilities of these Spanish fishers’ organisations in order to improve the legitimacy of the fishery system and the sustainability of fisheries. Our hypothesis is that updating and adapting some aspects of the cofradías model could produce efficient forms of collaborative management and lead to improvements in the sustainability of fisheries. To validate this hypothesis the study analysed 69 face‐to‐face interviews in 21 Spanish–Mediterranean guilds. The analysis focused on three core aspects: the control of fishing resources; the integration of fishing knowledge in the management system; and, finally, the guilds contribution to the legitimacy of the system in the eyes of the fishers.

Traditionally the role of women in fishing has gone largely unnoticed, but now in recent years there has been a growing interest about them. However, the task of identifying and quantifying the role played by women in fisheries has yet to be fully developed. This study tackles the role of women in fishing from a double perspective, both quantitatively and qualitatively, focusing on the case of inshore fishing in the Valencia Community (VC) in Spain. Official statistics now incorporate some important changes in order to reflect a more realistic view of women’s involvement in fishing. However, beyond ‘official’ trades and figures, there is a wealth of work largely done by women that goes unnoticed but it's essential for the fishing sector. Overcoming this, introducing women into fishing studies, statistics and fishing institutions, recognising the work of women in the fishing sector or promoting women who work in tasks traditionally carried out by men is a challenge for such a traditional sector, immersed in profound economic and social change.