13 Policy Matters.qxp

ties. Newcomers mainly use hook and line
gear while cabistas tend towards other gear
with beach seining being the most tradition-
al. Beach seining means much more than
just a type of fishing to cabistas. Seining is
a central and unifying symbol of their col-
lective identity and a ritualistic display of
their cultural and historic connection to
marine resources. Invariably, all Cabistas,
had or have a family member that beach
seines. Even those who do not seine partici-
pate by helping to pull in the net, or in the
past by salting the fish after they were
caught (a role traditionally filled by women).
Figure 5 illustrates the different fishing
modalities, the number of fishers involved in
each, as well as the distribution of some of
the different ethnic groups that participate
in each.

Social groups, divisions and
resource governing institutions
In the absence of government support and
regulation, the beach seining community in
Arraial do Cabo has been governed by a set
of locally constructed and communally
recognised institutions that regulate access
to and use of common fishing grounds.
Although originally a set of informal institu-
tions, these rules were codified in 1921 by
the local fishing guild.^11 Complex norms
include restrictions on the type of gear, ves-
sel and number of crew that can participate
in addition to determining access to local
fishing grounds.

This bundle of rules is called
the Direito do Diaor Day
Rights system. This system
defines daily access to the
resource through a system of
rotational access. There are a
certain number of ‘fishing days’
associated with each of the
four local beaches that deter-
mine when each owner has the
right to fish (See Table 2).

Given the local understanding

of the resource flow, Praia Grande, the first

beach in the flow, has attracted many more

fishers hoping to get a first chance at

incoming shoals (See Fig. 6). To accommo-

date its popularity, more than one canoe

fishes on a given day. Where canoes work

in pairs, locally called canoas casada’or

married canoes, each canoe takes turns

casting their net. As the process of recoiling

the net is time consuming, the presence of

a second canoe avoids the possibility of

shoals passing without being caught during

Conservation aas ccultural aand ppolitical ppractice

Table 2.Fishing days per beach^12

Praia Grande 21 Days 42 canoes

Praia dos Anjos 12 Days 12 canoes

Prainha 7 Days 7 canoes

Praia do Pontal 4 Days 4 canoes

Figure 6.Resource flow around the cape

(Source: Pinto da Silva, 2002)

Table 3.Rotational Access system on Praia Grande – “married

canoes”^14

Day Canoe Day Canoe Day Canoe

Day 1 1-2 Day 8 15-16 Day 15 29-30

Day 2 3-4 Day 9 17-18 Day 16 31-32

Day 3 5-6 Day 10 19-20 Day 17 33-34

Day 4 7-8 Day 11 21-22 Day 18 35-36

Day 5 9-10 Day 12 23-24 Day 19 37-38

Day 6 11-12 Day 13 25-26 Day 20 39-40

Day 7 13-14 Day 14 27-28 Day 21 41-42

After day 21 the user access system starts again from day 1