This paper adopts the framework of resilience to explore the social-ecological feedbacks between unobserved genetic diversity and human dimension of the blue whiting fishery in Galician coastal communities due to the mismanagement of the fishery in the EU. The results presented here suggest that there is considerable evidence that the currently used management unit is inconsistent with the recent growth and genetic differences observed. The results also reveal that based on the evidence currently available and in accordance with the precautionary principle, the stocks of blue whiting in Northern and Southern ICES areas should be treated as separate in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. The results obtained indicate that unobserved genetic diversity of the fishery can lead to an equivocal reduction of fishing quotas in the Southern area. Finally, the paper also shows that the total economic losses resulting from the 93%quota decrease of the species, which includes effects on the rest of the Galician economy, is 40,081,636 Euros per year. The next Common Fishery Policy Reform offers a great opportunity to reverse the current unsustainable path of the fishery and to accept humans as a component of this marine social-ecological system.