Galicia's women of the sea: In Galicia, it’s the women you have to thank for the delicious bounties of the sea
Along northern Spain’s rugged and wild coast, in the region of Galicia, there is an historic connection with the sea. Considered by chefs and gourmands as the source for many of the finest and rarest seafood on the planet, Galicia’s coastal women are the stars of the fishing industry due to their broad involvement, from catch to final sale.
In Galicia, all fishing activities depend, to a greater or lesser extent, on women, the main characters in the region’s legacy of fishing, cultivating, processing, selling and tutelage.
Indeed, the existence of ‘fishermen’ would be unthinkable without ‘fisherwomen’.
The knowledge that ordinary ‘mariscadoras’ (shellfish catchers and gatherers), ‘armadoras’ (shipowners), ‘mariñeiras’ (sailors), ‘conserveiras’ (canning), ‘percebeiras’ (gooseneck barnacle hunters and foragers), ‘acuicultoras’ (aquaculturists), and ‘redeiras’ (netters) have of the beaches, of their ecosystem, of a life in the sea and of the sea, foments a collective wisdom and intimate bond that is passed down generation after generation through Galicia’s matriarchy.
