Life of Camaroneras/Pescadores

9.9.10

So the title means the Life of Fishermen and the people who raise Shrimp, not sure if "raise" is the correct term, but you get it. They help the little guys grow and then sell 'em! The picture above is the shrimp pool behind my host families house. The guy in the boat in the background is Aurelio, my host dad's son, who works for his dad feeding the shrimp and basically doing everything to raise them.

Ok their life=NOT EASY. It’s actually very dangerous. Salinas is a big fishing town and also big for shrimp production, or seafood in general. One day while I was on the bus, I saw a fishing boat on the water and there were tons of birds swarming, waiting for fish to steal from the fishermen, obviously they need the fish too so there’s some competition. And risk of being bit by the birds. Also, Adriana told me that a lot of times people are killed because they try to rob the fisherman or shrimp pools to make money. So the Camaroneras are very protective, and if you cross their land at night it’s risky because they will most likely assume you’re trying to rob them. On the other hand, there are others who have their fisherman’s license and are still killed as being assumed as theives. She told me a story of a couple men who were fishing and some camaroneras killed them. First they tied them up, and then stuffed live fish down their throats, and then tied rocks to their legs and arms, and dumped them into the water. Intense, and they were innocent men who had their licenses and had a right to be fishing at the time.

Other risks again are the birds; in most camaron (shrimp) pools, there are nets that will trap birds who fly down and try to eat the shrimp. Birds may eat 15-20 shrimp per day, and over a period of 3 months which is the harvesting period, that’s a lot of shrimp and a lot of money that can be lost. Also, not every harvest turns out 100% perfect of course. Some months a family could make $1500 if all the shrimp are healthy and a good size; other times they may lose that amount of money because all the shrimp die for some reason.