While the fisher may be a man or a women, often she is women such as the “mariscadora” in Spain (Galicia). She is in her 40s and collects bivalve molluscs at low tide. She has lived by the sea all her life and watched her mother collect shellfish when she was young. Although she has had other jobs, she has made shellfish collection a permanent feature of her livelihood and obtained her licence to collect, doing this as much as permitted.
The income from her sales is modest and seasonal, but it is always a welcome extra during more financially challenging times. She doesn’t need a vessel but owns her own equipment: a neoprene suit, special rakes, buckets, and floaters - an investment she could afford. She cares for the resources, carefully follows the quotas and maximum sizes, and knows everyone in her group does, too. The work is hard, in the cold, the wet, even at night, but she loves the adventure and those moments outdoors in the company of her collector friends.
Together, they formed an association some time ago and campaigned for professional recognition. The professional status did not change her income from shellfish picking (because quantities harvested are still minimal). Still, it gave her access to social security and hospital treatment for chronic pain in her back from too much forward-bending and lifting of heavy loads. Belonging to the association has also boosted her confidence in her activity and herself. As a group, they have penetrated the local fishers’ association, which now takes them seriously and gives them a say in managing the molluscs.
She also feels proud to be able to perpetuate a coastal tradition and know-how that puts top-quality seafood on the menus of high-end restaurants all over the country. She appreciates that the activity has given her a “second youth” and even feels like a role model for the younger women she has started working with.
But she is concerned that collecting shellfish is attracting others for the wrong reasons: poachers and recreational pickers who don’t know the rules sell on the black market and compete unfairly with her. She is also closely watching how the numbers of women and men shellfish collectors are evolving: she knows that elsewhere along the Atlantic coast, women collectors are a minority and becoming more accepted, but here, more and more men seem interested in her work, and after her long fight for recognition she’s not sure she would be ready to let the “a” of mariscadora go.