Spain's fishing fleet during WW2?

[driftwood]

How much territory did Spain's fishing fleet cover over the course of WW2? I assume they obviously had vessels operating off the Spanish coast and the coasts of Spain's African colonies. But did any venture farther afield? Portugal had cod fishing fleets that ranged across the North Atlantic, so I'd like to know if Spain also covered a lot of ground or if they were mainly confined to the western Med and African coasts.

An additional question I'd like to know is whether employment in Spain's fishing industry was restricted to Spanish nationals during the war, or if it was an industry that admitted foreign workers (e.g. Portuguese, Frenchmen, Latin-Americans, Africans from outside the Spanish colonies, etc.)

[Ironmachine]

I posted some information about Spanish ships fishing cod in the North Atlantic during World War 2 in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=248178

[Ironmachine]

Something more (from https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261 ... ranova.pdf):

Fishing.jpg

[driftwood]

Thanks, I'll run those through a translator.

[driftwood]

Anyone here know something re: Spanish fishing boats resupplying Axis submarines with fuel or provisions while at sea? I asked this question on another forum and was told that it was known to happen, so I'd like to learn any available info on the subject.

[Ironmachine]

Well, I have seen many claims and rumours that it happened (not only fishing boats but also freighters), and there are Allied reports about suspicions of it happening. Confirmation, that's another thing. It is possible that it may have happened, after all German submarines were resupplied in Spanish harbours.
It is interesting to note that this involved not only resupplying the submarines for their own use. In 1944-1945, apparently Spanish ships were used (AFAIK, without knowledge of the Spanish authorities) to transfer supplies to German submarines that then carried the cargo to the besieged German ports in France.