The festivities that are celebrated these days in honor of Our Lady of Carmen in the town of Los Abrigos, in Granadilla, served as a framework to celebrate yesterday the Fisherman’s Dayin which some works carried out by the elderly in this area throughout their working lives were revived.
The initiative arose from the Festival Commission, whose president is Maribel Marcelino, and in which Cándido Rodríguez Marcelino acts as vice president, with the aim of putting value on the main economic activity of this nucleus of Abona until a few decades ago.
One of those retired fishermen is Agustín Marcelino Ramos. A few days ago he turned 70 and one of his hobbies is making drums for moray eel fishing. He clarifies that the pieces “are all made by hand.” The specimens of this species enter through the “slaughterhouse”, the circular entrance mouth, and then cannot leave, thanks to the metal rods linked with threads. And he also shows the door through which the catches are taken.
Agustín admits that he sends these pieces to all the islands of the Archipelago. And, even, he has come to send some piece to Cape Verde by parcel. In a few days, a person will pick up an order of 40 elements that will go to Lanzarote. He points out that there are the small drums, which sink to a shallow depth. And then there are the largest ones, “those of 300, to cast deeper, where you can catch the painted moray eels, weighing three, five or six kilos.” Born in Los Abrigos, Agustín first worked on his father’s boat, which was seven meters long. Later, he dedicated himself to the activity alone, although with a smaller boat.
Graciliano Amaral Díaz is in charge of fixing nets, which are broken by the action of some dolphins, for example. Until a few years ago, this activity was carried out by various neighbors on some sidewalks of the nucleus. Today, with limitations, such work is carried out on the dock. “With so many laws, they don’t let them work,” says Graciliano. He began to embark to fish when he was only four or five years old. And, like everyone else in the area, his teachers were his elders. He explains that the replacement of the networks “is an expensive job”, which takes time.
Antonio Marcelino has been, for much of his life, a shipwright. He dedicated himself to fishing until he went to military service. Once he got married, he decided to go it alone and make his own boat.; “Only me!”, She nuances. And for this she looked at others in the area. He began to receive commissions and dedicated himself to this work until retirement. He not only made ships, but also repaired them. He estimates that, throughout his life, he will have built twenty “large boats, 12 or 12.20 meters long.” He evokes that, once, to get one of them to the cove known as El Puertito, he and several neighbors spent two days. It weighed about 8,000 kilos, with engines, masts or the bridge. In his youth, there were few boats in the area with a motor. His family had two boats, one of them seven meters long, which they moved with four oars.
Antonio Marcelino walks along the dock with Sebastián Toledo Marcelino, who, using copper-colored wire, makes small-scale pandorgas, which are used as recreations of the real thing. There are already few real pandorgas that are seen on the coast to fish with mirafondo, as Sebastian, 82, acknowledges. And Cándido Rodríguez, the vice president, also explains to the young people how to tie sailor knots.
The City Hall of Granadilla offered yesterday morning a cooking demonstration to highlight the flavor of some gastronomic products and wines from the area. And, in parallel, there was also an exhibition of the Training and Alternation with Employment Plan to prepare lifeguards on beaches, as well as the agricultural training project of Finca Las Crucitas.
