Catch declarations through the PescaREC app begin tomorrow

The Official State Gazette (BOE) published today, Thursday, March 19th, the Royal Decree that will make the PescaREC app mandatory from tomorrow, Friday, March 20th, for the management of authorizations, declarations, and communications related to recreational sea fishing in external waters.

The regulation, approved on March 18th, also establishes a separate timetable for marine reserves of fishing interest, where some of the new obligations will not become enforceable until September 1st, 2026.

The text, set out in Royal Decree 214/2026, establishes that applications for authorization to carry out recreational fishing, as well as the declarations and communications associated with this activity, must be submitted electronically. In practice, this makes the mobile application developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the mandatory channel for processing these procedures.

The main exception affects marine reserves of fishing interest. Although the Royal Decree enters into force the day after its publication in the BOE, the text itself postpones until September 1st, 2026 the effects of the article relating to electronic processing in these areas, as well as the obligation to have a location device for those carrying out fishing activity there, whether professional or recreational. This device may be fixed or may consist of a mobile phone with the enabled app, although it will not replace fixed equipment in cases where regulations already require it.

In the case of recreational fishing, the new regulation includes an article making it mandatory to process through the app the specific authorizations for certain species and to report catches and releases. The declaration must be made within 24 hours following the end of the activity and must include both retained catches and those that were caught and released. In addition, registration and notification may be carried out by another individual or legal entity on behalf of the fisher, provided that they are duly authorized to do so.

The regulation also updates the annex of species subject to this control and adds sea bass, cod, pollack, sole, and dolphinfish. With this system, the Government aims to strengthen the traceability, control, and sustainable management of recreational fishing through a fully digital procedure, in line with European requirements on the electronic recording and reporting of catches.