In relation with the target population under study susceptible to
the application of transferable rights, Table 1 shows the number of
Spanish vessels operating in European waters per each fleet
segment, from the smallest (boats involved in artisanal fisheries) to
the largest (trawlers in Gran Sole ground or Celtic Sea).We can see
that most of the fleet belongs to the artisanal or small-scale fisheries
segment and is made up of vessels less than 12 m in length,
have between one and three crewmembers and use a large variety
of gear. Given that their activity is usually relatively homogenous
per fishing zone and that the vessel owners do not keep detailed
accounts of income and costs deriving from their activity, we chose
to survey directly the associations or guilds that the vessels of each
fishing zone belong2 In addition to artisanal segment, the fleet
operating in Spanish waters includes 1928 vessels which use gillnets,
longlines, trawl and purse-seine methods. Lastly, we find the
fleet involved in non-Spanish European waters, made up of 240
vessels; of which 178 (longliners and trawlers) operate in European
waters (known as Grand Sole or Celtic Sea) and the rest are surface
longliners which also operate in international Atlantic waters
following the migration route of swordfish in these waters3.