The Minister of the Sea, Marta Villaverde, has once again called on the central Government to make effective immediately and with retroactive effects the exemption of Social Security contributions for Galician shellfish gatherers who suffered the impact of the strong storms recorded at the beginning of the year.
The head of the Sea has railed against "the lack of operability of constant state announcements" and has especially censured the "opportunism" of presenting at this stage a simple "agreement in principle" on a measure publicly committed to by members of the central Executive and the PSOE more than two and a half months ago, "without any change in the situation of the professionals having materialized to date."
As explained in a statement, released a day after the BNG made public an agreement with the Government to activate this initiative, it is unacceptable that, in the face of the crisis affecting the sector due to the storms, the Executive's only reaction is to promote a draft of intentions without real effects.
Likewise, she rejects that the inclusion of this proposal "through the back door" and "in borrowed clothes" in a bill derived from Royal Decree-Law 5/2026, originally intended to address damages in other communities such as Andalusia or Extremadura, is presented as a solution for Galician shellfish gathering.
Villaverde denounces that this norm, processed under the urgent procedure, is stalled in Congress due to "successive and inexplicable extensions in the deadlines for amendments," while the Galician shellfish gatherers "continue to pay their contributions every month despite completely lacking income and cessation benefits due to force majeure beyond their control."
Faced with this scenario, the Ministry of the Sea emphasizes that the Xunta has fulfilled its technical responsibilities by issuing the resolutions for the suspension of extractive activity necessary to implement social protection mechanisms, a prerequisite for aid to be granted.
The minister stressed that the responsibilities for social coverage and exemptions fall exclusively on the Social Institute of the Navy (ISM), "therefore it is the Government of Spain that has the legal obligation to provide protection and grant cessation of activity benefits, which are a legally recognized right of the workers of our sea."
In their opinion, "Madrid's neglect - which continues to provide no specific economic resources for the Galician coast despite it having been declared a zone seriously affected by a civil protection emergency on February 10 - contrasts with the proximity management and financial commitment of the regional government," to which they contrast the actions of the Xunta.
Villaverde concludes that "Faced with a lack of action, the Xunta does not work with promises or improvise narratives: it acts with rigor alongside the brotherhoods and made almost 23 million euros available to them to sustain the income of shellfish gatherers and regenerate the productivity of our estuaries."