this process. On Praia Grande, “beach sein-
ing should never occur with greater or less
than two canoes”.^13 A breakdown of the
canoe partnerships from Praia Grande is
described in Table 3.
Although beach seiners are all Cabistas, sig-
nificant divisions exist within this group.
After 500 years, racial and ethnic differ-
ences and divisions between the beaches
run deep. Locals often state that the differ-
ent neighborhoods are like different tribes.
Work teams are often made up of family
members and historically, fishers lived in the
neighborhood they fished in. Each neighbor-
hood has kept many of the ethnic and racial
characteristics of its colonial origins. Seiners
from Praia Grande, for example, are largely
of Portuguese decent, and those of Praia
dos Anjos of French or northern European
decent. Prainha’s residents are descendants
of Africans forced into the transatlantic
slave trade. These communities exist side
by side, within a minute’s walk of one
another.
The horizontal crew structure is no longer
reflected in the ownership patterns of the
days, nets, canoes and other means of pro-
duction. In the past, because of the
expense of the materials
used in this activity, princi-
pally the net and canoe,
groups of individuals would
collectively own these
items. Fifty years ago it
would have been very com-
mon for a canoe to have
three or four owners. As
the nets are significantly
more expensive than the
canoes, they often had
even more owners. These owners were
most often crewmembers. Also, owners of
canoes from each beach were typically resi-
dents of that beach. Praia Grande canoes
were owned by people from Praia Grande,
Praia dos Anjos canoes were owned by peo-
ple from Praia dos Anjos and so on.
In recent years ownership patterns among
beach seiners have changed dramatically.
Only 12 percent of fishers in Arraial do Cabo
are owners or part owners of the boats they
fish on. Within beach seiners, concentration
is even more marked. Within this fishery, a
few individuals (father and son) from Praia
Grande have amassed ownership of the
majority of canoes and nets, thereby con-
trolling the associated access days to the
fishing grounds. Much to the resentment of
fishers from other beaches, not only have
they accumulated control over the Praia
Grande fishery but they are also buying up
the access days on other beaches. These
owners are vertically integrated and own
icehouses and fishmongers and therefore
play an important role in setting the value
of the catch. Ownership patterns on Praia
dos Anjos reflect these changes.
On Praia dos Anjos, ten individuals own
parts of the twelve canoes along with
access to the associated fishing grounds. Of
these, five are residents of Praia dos Anjos
and the other five are residents of Praia
Grande. The five owners from Praia dos
Anjos own 37.5 percent (4 ½ canoes) of
the total while owners from Praia Grande
own the lion’s share at 62.5 percent (7 ½
canoes). A single family from Praia Grande
owns 50 percent of the total (see Table 4).
Seiners commonly expressed that they felt
that their fishery was being overrun by a
handful of powerful owners. In addition,
History, cculture aand cconservation
Table 4.Praia dos Anjos Ownership Breakdown^15
Total # of owners on P. dos Anjos 10
# of owners who are P. dos Anjos residents 5
# of owners who are P. Grande residents 5
Percentage of total owned by P. dos Anjos residents 37.50 %
Percentage of total owned by P. Grande residents 62.50 %
Percentage of total owned by one family (from P. Grande) 50.00 %
Percentage of total owned by women (widows) 16.60 %
