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PescaREC: how to register and declare your tuna catches step by step

Published on · Aerovik

PescaREC is the official app of Spain's General Secretariat of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). Since 20 March 2026 its use is mandatory for recreational sea fishing in Spain (Royal Decree 214/2026 of 18 March, implementing EU Regulation 2023/2842 on fisheries control). In our world that means: every tuna you touch, released or not, must be declared. This guide sums up the Ministry's official documents, linked at the end; when in doubt, they prevail.

Who it applies to

Anyone holding a recreational sea fishing licence, from shore, boat, floating device or spearfishing. You do not need your phone on board or the app on your own handset: the declaration can be made by a representative (the skipper, a friend, the club) from their account. What is mandatory is that the catch gets recorded in time.

Registration: what to have at hand

  1. Download the app: App Store (iOS) · Google Play (Android).
  2. Sign in via “Documento de identidad” with the DNI, NIE or passport you used for your licence.
  3. It asks for the number of your valid licence and its start date. If they do not match you cannot get in: read the help (the ? icon) before retrying.
  4. Only one session at a time is allowed. Afterwards you can enable fingerprint or face unlock.

First tip: open Settings and set up your ports, gear, usual species and your boat. With that, a declaration on the dock takes two minutes.

The boat

To declare from a boat you must register it first: NIB (or the bow marking for a foreign flag) and the owner's ID document. If the boat is someone else's, ask them for the details; under a marine lease, the holder is the leasing company. Registration is done by the owner or, with their consent, by whoever fishes from it. You can also upload your licence, bluefin authorisation and seaworthiness certificate to “Documentación” to carry them on your phone.

What must be declared

All catches, kept and released, of species subject to mandatory declaration, which the app flags as such in each area. They include the Annex II species of Royal Decree 347/2011 (differentiated protection): bluefin, albacore, bigeye, swordfish, spearfish, sailfish, hake, blackspot seabream, sea bass, cod, pollack, sole and mahi-mahi. In external waters all mandatory species are declared in PescaREC; in internal waters, at least the differentiated-protection ones. Yellowfin and skipjack are not on that list today, but the app will tell you whether they must be declared in your fishing ground.

Schematic of the three steps to declare a catch in PescaREC
The three steps of a declaration, summarised. The official visual guide with real screens is linked at the end.

The three declaration steps

  1. Trip: “Realizar declaración” → mode (boat), licence, nearest port and catch area, marked in red on a map. From a boat, also the vessel and the number of anglers on board, and the gear (trolling, rod).
  2. Times: start and end date and time. As a guide, it starts when the gear goes in the water and ends with the last fishing manoeuvre, but you decide. The competition and tagging-day fields are only filled in when there is an authorisation number.
  3. Catches: species and, separately, kept and released: number of fish, total weight in grams and, optionally, length, photo and comment. Save, and the app offers to add another species or finish. In marine reserves length and the number of rods and hooks are mandatory.

The deadline: 24 hours

The declaration is made within 24 hours of finishing the activity, with no connection needed while fishing. Separate declarations are required if you fish in the morning and go out again in the afternoon, or change mode, boat or catch area. And it is individual: on a boat with three licences, each angler declares their own catches, with the boat's details. If a rod is shared on the same strike, at least one of them declares it. On sixth-list vessels (charters), the holder declares for everyone.

Bluefin: the special rules

  • You need the specific catch-and-release authorisation on top of the licence. It is requested in the app itself (“Mis licencias y autorizaciones” → Solicitar autorización), it is free, issued almost instantly and can be carried on your phone. It is only mandatory for fishing from a boat.
  • 2026 season: 16 June to 14 October, catch and release only (Resolution of 28 May 2026). In practice the recreational quota ran out in days and the campaign closed in June: check the status on the Ministry website before going out.
  • If a fish dies and it could not be avoided, one per boat per day and two per season may be kept, whole and not for sale, with a pre-notice in PescaREC before entering port and a declaration within 24 hours. Foreign-flagged boats may not keep any.
  • Competitions and scientific tagging days need their own authorisation, whose number goes in the declaration.

Tips on board

  • Note the time of each release on your phone and take a photo of the tuna parallel to the gunwale: it lets you estimate the length with our length and weight guide and you can attach it to the declaration.
  • The app locates the catch area from the nearest port: if you work far offshore, zoom in on the map and check the marked area is the right one.
  • Keep the authorisation downloaded in the app: it shows without coverage.
  • If something fails, the app has a “Contacto” option for technical issues and queries; the official mailbox is bzn-recreativos@mapa.es.

To make sure a release really is a release, also read how to do bluefin catch and release properly.

Official sources

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