The Canary offshore grounds

Sea area · Salt water · in Canary Islands

The deep water between and around the islands. There is no continental shelf here: the ground falls from the island slopes into abyssal depth, and the fishery is a blue-water one worked over that drop rather than over any bank.

Safety: boat traffic and being seen — can cause serious injury or death. 2 more points apply here.

What each one does, and what reduces it ↓

FishingHQ describes what this place is, not whether you may fish it. Access, permits and who to ask.

What you can catch here

Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.

From a boat · 7

On a charter · 8

Spearfishing · 1

Greater amberjackCharacteristic of this water1 place · 2 fishery accounts · 2 independent sourcesThe Canary offshore groundsOver sea area

What these strengths mean

Characteristic of this water: This water is strongly identified with this species by the sources that cover it.
Seasonal: Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
Repeatedly reported: Several independent public accounts. Enough to say it happens more than once; not enough to call it a fishery.
Recorded here: At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
How breadth is counted: A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.

How people fish it

Practised here: Sea fishing.

Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.

Trolling
Towing lures or baits behind a moving boat to cover large volumes of water and locate scattered fish.
Jigging
Working a weighted lure with a rising-and-falling motion, usually vertically, so it behaves like a wounded or fleeing baitfish.

The ground and the water

The ground: The deep water between and around the islands. There is no continental shelf here: the ground falls from the island slopes into abyssal depth, and the fishery is a blue-water one worked over that drop rather than over any bank.
Exposure: Open Atlantic, worked from the sheltered southern and western coasts of the larger islands.
Depth: Hundreds to thousands of metres within a short run of the shore, which is why a charter boat reaches genuine offshore ground in under an hour and why the fishery exists at all.

Through the year

Strongly seasonal and species-dependent. Canary sources describe the larger tuna as a spring-to-autumn proposition and treat the rest of the pelagic list as summer fishing, without agreeing on the boundaries.

The months the sources attach to each species here. Where a species carries no season it is listed underneath rather than assumed to run through the year.

The months in which each species is recorded as caught at this location.
Species	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Atlantic bluefin tuna — seasonal, recorded in April, May, June, July, August, September.
Mahi-mahi — seasonal, recorded in July, August, September, October.
Yellowfin tuna — seasonal, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October.
Atlantic blue marlin — repeatedly reported, recorded in April, May, June, July, August, September.
Wahoo — repeatedly reported, recorded in July, August, September, October, November.

Recorded here with no season stated: Greater amberjack, Atlantic bonito, Albacore.

Safety

Boat traffic and being seen — Can cause serious injury or death

Summer small-craft traffic on this coast is heavy and fast, and a swimmer, breath-hold diver or small float is nearly invisible from a planing hull until it is too close to alter course.

What reduces it: Carry a surface marker buoy with a dive flag and keep it directly above the diver, work inside marked zones where they exist, and leave water where traffic is heavy rather than trying to be seen in it.

Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death

Atlantic swell reaches the northern and western coasts with little energy lost, because there is no shelf to dissipate it. Waves at exposed lava platforms are larger and less predictable than the wind suggests, and people are washed off regularly.

What reduces it: Check swell rather than wind. Watch any platform for a sustained period before committing to it. Never fish a position you could not leave immediately, and treat undercut and blowhole ground as unsafe regardless of conditions.

Sun, dehydration and fatigue — Can cause injury needing treatment

Long summer sessions on shadeless rock produce dehydration and heat exhaustion, and both degrade judgement and coordination well before they produce collapse, on ground where both are what keep somebody safe.

What reduces it: Carry substantially more water than the session appears to need, fish the ends of the day rather than the middle of it in high summer, and treat shade and a stopping time as part of the plan.

Rules and access

FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. The Canary Islands are an autonomous community licensing their own recreational sea, boat and underwater fishing, separately from mainland Spain, and the archipelago carries marine reserves in which fishing and diving are restricted or prohibited on boundaries a visitor cannot see from the shore. Measures change. Check the current position with the Canarian government's fisheries administration before going.

Particular to this water: A Canary recreational fishing licence is required, separately for shore, boat and underwater fishing. FishingHQ does not hold the current requirements — check with the Canary regional fisheries authority before fishing. Offshore fishing here is overwhelmingly done from licensed charter boats, and the operator's own permissions, quotas and species restrictions apply on top of the angler's licence. Several of the species listed are subject to size, quota or seasonal measures that change.

Who holds the answer:

The Canarian government's fisheries administration, which licenses recreational sea and underwater fishing in the archipelago.
The island council, for local measures and for access to the coast.
The marine reserve administration, where the water is inside a reserve.
The regional Canarian government fisheries administration, for recreational licences, sizes and species rules
The Spanish national maritime and fisheries authorities, for offshore and vessel matters
The managing authority of any marine protected area or reserve, whose zoning governs what is permitted inside it
Local dive centres, charter operators and clubs, for current practice and access on individual islands

Nearby fishing

Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.

El Médano, Tenerife — 10–25 km · Surf beach
Candelaria — 10–25 km · Rock platform
Los Abrigos, Tenerife — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
Playa de los Patos and El Bollullo, Tenerife — 25–40 km · Beach
Los Cristianos, Tenerife — 25–40 km · Charter departure port
Puerto de la Cruz — 25–40 km · Harbour wall
Punta Rasca, Tenerife — 25–40 km · Headland
Puerto Colón, Adeje, Tenerife — 25–40 km · Charter departure port

The Canary offshore grounds and the publicly documented places around it. Approximate positions, not marks. On a narrow screen the plot is wider than the screen and scrolls sideways inside its frame. Positions are approximate by design — they are capped at about a hundred metres and describe where a named public place is, not where fish are and not a mark. Everything plotted here is also listed below.

Sources for this place

EMODnet — the European Marine Observation and Data Network — The European Commission, assembled from the national hydrographic offices, geological surveys and marine institutes of the member states (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Charted bathymetry, seabed substrate and seabed habitat for European sea areas, assembled from the national hydrographic and geological surveys, at the resolution the product publishes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
The European Environment Agency's assessments of Europe's waters, seas and coasts — European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Assessment of Europe's coasts and regional seas, including the condition of coastal water bodies, the pressures recorded on them and the coverage of designated sites.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Canary Islands regional angling guidance sites — Various Canary-based angling and island guidance publishers (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Island-by-island Spanish-language guidance naming the coasts, moles, harbours and beaches that are fished from the shore in the Canaries, and the species presented as local shore species at them.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Canary Islands angling community and forum material — Public Canary angling forums and community postings (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Public Canary angling community accounts naming specific marks and describing the ground at them, treated as evidence that a mark is genuinely fished and as nothing else.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Canary Islands marine reserves and recreational fishing licensing — Spanish and Canary regional fisheries and environmental authorities (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That marine reserves exist in the archipelago with zoned rather than uniform restrictions, and that a Canary recreational fishing licence is required for shore and boat fishing alike.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Pesca deportiva en Lanzarote — the island's own guide to sport fishing — Turismo Lanzarote (Cabildo de Lanzarote) (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The species Lanzarote's own authority gives for each fishing modality, and the areas of the island it names for each modality.States this directlyPassage read and verified

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-20.

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