Antonio García-Allut

Dr. Antonio García Allut, from the LONXANET Foundation for Sustainable Fisheries, has a PHD in Social Anthropology and he is an associate at the University of A Coruña since 1992. He researches small-scale fisheries and takes a systemic and bottom-up approach. He was a research fellow at the Memorial of Newfoundland (Canada) in 2000 and has been studying the impact of the collapse of cod fisheries in artisanal fishing communities. Since 2001 he has been carrying out several projects aimed at promoting the sustainability of artisanal fisheries in Galicia (Spain) from the LONXANET Foundation (www.fundacionlonxanet.org) which he set up in 2002. The projects deal with direct marketing, fishing tourism, the creation of marine fishing reserves, the value of maritime cultural heritage and awareness initiatives that provide support for the dignity and empowerment of the fishing professions to enable the fisherman himself to become the executor and trustee of marine resources and ecosystems. In 2004 Dr. García Allut created the Network of Fishing Communities for Sustainable Development (RECOPADES), made up of fishermen’s organisations that have effective answers to different environmental, economic and/or social problems. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of Ashoka (www.ashoka.org) in Spain.