Legal Treatment of Fish in the EU and Spain

Abstract

Fish form a legal category that has received varying treatment from the Law. Its legal treatment has gone through different phases depending on which aspect has received most attention from the legislator. Between these extremes is found the primary inclusion of fish in the treaty on property between things that belong to no one, reflected in the majority of Civil Codes; the protection awarded by Criminal Law as part of wild fauna included in environmental protection; the regulation of the Autonomous Communities, which exercise exclusive competence in relation to fishing in interior waters, shell fishing, aquaculture, river hunting and fishing and, ultimately, the EU animal welfare framework legislation, which recognises the condition of sentient beings, in relation to the regulation of fishing, according to art. 13 of the TFEU, as well as the increasingly extensive and inclusive treatment conceded by international organisations responsible for animal welfare (OIE, EFSA, FAO)