The United Kingdom has played a prominent role in the Common Fisheries Policy—by contributing to fisheries activities and also by participating in the design of the fisheries policy. Brexit is certain to have significant repercussions for European fisheries activities and their management. This study analyses the views held by companies linked to the fisheries sector in Galicia (fishing, wholesale trade, canned fish, aquaculture, and fish processing), one of the European regions most affected by Brexit given that more than 80% of the Spanish fishing fleet working on UK waters is located in this region. We adopt a quantitative methodology based on the Pearson’s chi-squared test, the likelihood ratio, and the Fisher’s exact test for analyzing opinions about various topics. Results indicate that companies engaged in marine fisheries or trade in fishing goods hold a mostly negative view of Brexit’s effects. In total, 30% of those surveyed anticipate that Brexit will have negative consequences for EU workers in UK fishery companies; a slightly higher percentage of these respondents expect the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU to depress Spain’s foreign trade; over half of those surveyed perceived Brexit as resulting in the adverse scenario of reduced access to fisheries’ resources and were in favor of reformulating the current system of total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas among the remaining post-Brexit member states. Most respondents also agreed that Brexit will have negative repercussions on vessels of the Galician fleet operating under the British flag. Our statistical analysis identifies a significant relationship between negative attitudes and the firm’s size for fisheries’ sectors as a whole; however, no relation between those attitudes and firm size or turnover is identified when the particular fishing companies’ perceptions are evaluated.

La pesca a pequeña escala cuenta con dinámicas específicas en las relaciones entre sistemas de recurso, sistemas de gobernanza y actores. En Galicia, esta realidad tiene un punto central en la organización de los mariscadores y pescadores en las llamadas Cofradías de Pescadores, entidades asociativas con reconocimiento administrativo y participación en la gestión de los recursos pesqueros. Estas organizaciones poseen una naturaleza público-privada, donde los miembros comparten y se benefician del uso y la explotación de los recursos marinos.En este escenario, el trabajo estudia las interacciones de gobernanza en las pesquerías de pequeña escala de Galicia, partiendo de las percepciones de las cofradías de pescadores como actores de gobernanza. En concreto, el caso de estudio analiza los cambios en la gestión de las actividades desarrolladas por las cofradías, como la producción y comercialización, y la influencia de la Administración Pública y de otras entidades sociales en su organización. Para avanzar en estos objetivos, se aplican los marcos de análisis institucional, específicamente el sistema socio ecológico de E. Ostrom y su entorno y el marco de evaluación de la gobernabilidad de Jentoft y Chuenpagdee, los cuales permiten estudiar realidades concretas sin limitarse a una estructura específica.