‘KIAL IS THE FISH DONATED ON THE PORT’S EDGE’:

THE PRACTICE OF SHARING FISH IN THE FISHERMAN’S VILLAGE COMMUNITY, IN BRAGANÇA, PARÁ

Abstract

This article reflects on an apparently free practice carried out by fishermen, fisherwomen and residents of the Vila dos Pescadores community, Caeté-Taperaçu Marine Extractive Reserve, in Bragança’s town, on the coast state’s Pará: the “kial”, which can be summed up as the act of asking for and giving away fish on the port’s edge at the time of landing. As a result of the diminishing harvests of the most profitable species on the market, fishermen and fisherwomen who work in the estuary find it difficult to maintain their social reproduction. In this way, as well as an custom of solidarity and mutual aid, the “kial” has also become a commercial practice used as a strategy to overcome the financial difficulties of these people and guarantee their subsistence in the face of the hardships of artisanal fishing.

KEYWORDS:
Anthropology of fishing. Caeté-Taperaçu Marine Extractive Reserve. Artisanal fishing. Reciprocity.