Andalusia reallocates 3.2 million from the Mediterranean drift aids

The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Regional Government of Andalusia has reallocated the credit for aid for the temporary cessation of the bottom trawl fleet with a base port in Andalusia operating in the National Mediterranean Fishing Ground. The new distribution allocates 1.8 million euros to shipowners and 1.4 million to crew members, without increasing the total amount of the call. The decision is formalized in the Order of October 13, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Regional Government of Andalusia (BOJA) No. 204, of October 21, 2026 (text No. 13791).

The regulation modifies the Order of November 28, 2025, which called for the year 2025, on a non-competitive basis, the aid provided for in the Order of September 2, 2022, which establishes the regulatory bases for subsidies for the temporary cessation of the fishing and shellfish fleet with a base port in Andalusia. This call is part of the Operational Program of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (2014-2020) and was modified by the Order of May 22, 2024; its procedure code is 25063.

The call maintains a maximum global amount of 3,200,000 euros, with cash effectiveness in 2026, distributed between two budget items of program G4130204A6.

The distribution before and after the adjustment

The change only affects the internal distribution of the credit between the two beneficiary groups:

• Shipowners: increase from 1,700,000 euros to 1,800,000 euros, charged to item 1400120000/G/71P/47300/00/G4130204A6.
• Crew members: decrease from 1,500,000 euros to 1,400,000 euros, charged to item 1400120000/G/71P/48300/00/G4130204A6.
• Total of the call: remains at 3,200,000 euros, without any increase.

The modification applies both to Annex III of the call order and to the annex of its summary, so that both texts now reflect the new amounts per group.

Addressing shipowners without expanding the call

The preamble of the order justifies the adjustment based on the need to “address the total amount of aid requested and accepted for shipowners,” a circumstance that necessitates the redistribution of the maximum available credit. The regional ministry expressly emphasizes that the operation does not represent an increase in the call, but rather a transfer of 100,000 euros from the crew line to the shipowners’ line.

The regulatory support for the change is based on the Order of April 6, 2018, on budget management procedures for subsidies, whose article 9.1 allows for the modification of the distribution between functional areas through a reasoned agreement, and whose article 10.2 extends these rules to non-competitive concurrence. The order is issued upon the proposal of the Director General of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Blue Economy, dated September 25, 2026, and by virtue of the powers of Decree 193/2026, of July 30, on the organic structure of the department, and article 115 of the Recast Text of the General Public Finance Law of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, approved by Legislative Decree 1/2010, of March 2.

No new deadline and effects from October 22

The order establishes two temporal and procedural limits relevant to the sector:

• No new deadline for the submission of applications for these grants is opened.
• The regulation takes effect the day following its publication in the BOJA, that is, from October 22, 2026.

The text appears in section 1, General Provisions, of the bulletin and was signed in Seville on October 13, 2026, by the counselor Ramón Fernández-Pacheco Monterreal.

The adjustment comes after the 2025 call was configured with an initial distribution favorable to crew members (1.5 million compared to 1.7 for shipowners). With the new distribution, the difference between the two groups increases to 400,000 euros in favor of the shipowners, always within the same spending ceiling.

Impact for the sector

For Andalusian Mediterranean trawlers, the measure ensures that already accepted applications from shipowners can be paid in full, although it reduces the margin available for crew grants by 100,000 euros. The call remains the same, with the same procedure and the same closed deadline, so affected guilds and shipowners should not submit new documentation: only the internal destination of the 3.2 million already committed changes.

Source: Official Gazette of the Junta de Andalucía, no. 204, of October 21, 2026, section 1. General Provisions, page 13791 (official reference: text no. 13791, code 00345021).