Recreational Fishing: Declare Every Fish Caught From January

Declare Every Fish Caught Via App: Mandatory From January

Not fishing isn't an excuse. Starting January 10, 2026, any recreational fisherman heading out to sea will have to open their mobile and declare their catches, one by one, even if they return empty-handed. The General Secretariat for Fisheries has set this date to make electronic notification via the PescaREC app, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, mandatory. The rule implements Regulation (EU) 2023/2842, which amends Regulation (EC) 1224/2009 and aims to strengthen the control and traceability of recreational sea fishing.

What Changes on January 10, 2026

The announcement, signed by Juan Antonio Agüero Monedero, Deputy Director General for Control and Inspection and Fight Against Illegal Fishing, details that each fisherman must declare the species caught daily, both those kept and those returned to the sea, and also report when no fish has been caught. The obligation primarily affects species with differentiated protection measures and those included in multiannual plans or subject to landing obligations.

The app will be more than just a logbook. It will be the only way to request specific authorizations, such as for bluefin tuna, and to make fishing pre-notifications. It will also provide minimum sizes, lists of prohibited species, and fishery closure notices. To use it, a valid recreational sea fishing license will be required. Its use will be mandatory in external waters, although each autonomous community may extend it to internal waters.

What Exactly Does the PescaREC App Require?

The details of the fields the application will request are where the plan begins to falter. A shore angler raises the most obvious question: if fishing from the shore, what boat length should be declared, that of the boat they don't have, or that of their rod? And in the hooks section, should lost hooks due to snagging also be counted? These are unanswered questions in the announcement and anticipate the daily friction of any poorly designed form.

The General Secretariat for Fisheries has indicated that new national regulations with procedures and obligations will be published in the coming weeks. There will be specific instructions and updated information on the MAPA website. For now, anyone going fishing on a Sunday knows they will have to justify their day without yet knowing the exact format.

Why Do Farmers Already Comply With a Similar Procedure?

The argument that this is new quickly falls apart. The agricultural sector has been reporting daily harvest quantities, including plot and parcel information, for years, and without this passport, they cannot bring their produce to an oil mill or cooperative. The fine for not doing so is the same. From this perspective, the fishing app is not an anomaly: it is the extension to the sea of an administrative model that already operates in the field and also covers chicken farming and egg production.

From Chicken Registration to Digital Control System

The most common interpretation is not environmental, but about power structures. The underlying suspicion: registering chickens, eggs, and now fish is part of the same logic of mass data collection on activities that were until recently private. The recurring list includes digital identity, digital money, message control, and traceability of one's own food production. For many, the pattern is not fishing: it is registration.

And there are those who point out the contradiction: the recreational fishing license has existed since 2011 and has been collected for over a decade. Some recall paying a license for over 25 years and that from October to April, they can only go out on weekends with good weather, perhaps once every two months. Control, they say, arrives precisely where there was already paperwork and fees.

Poaching, Disobedience, and the Irish Precedent

The majority reaction ranges from mockery to threats of non-compliance. Some anticipate the solution will be simple: if the Civil Guard appears, declare; if not, don't declare; and a couple of times a year, note that fish were caught and returned to the sea. Others directly point to poaching and announce they will continue fishing like pirates. The temptation to ignore the app completely runs through a good part of the issue.

The most repeated historical parallel is the Irish one: when the English invaded Ireland, they prohibited the Irish from fishing, owning livestock, and hunting under penalty of death, and the potato blight did the rest. One and a half million deaths, 20% of the population, and the rest emigrated to the United States. The country never recovered demographically. The comparison is exaggerated, but the memory that restricting access to one's own food has consequences is quickly activated.

What Remains to Be Known

The fine print is missing: how many fields the form will have, what happens if the mobile has no signal on the coast, how those who don't declare are penalized, or how it is verified that a returned catch actually was. The promised national regulation has yet to be published. The question is no longer whether recreational fishermen can declare everything, but whether the State will be able to verify anything with self-declared data.