Deep-Sea Longline Fishing
Paulo “Loiro”
•Açores
Still holding the sky, and before dawn breaks, Paulo Louro is already heading out to sea. If the weather permits, the Volta a Vir leaves the port of Lagoa before the first light, the bottom fishing gear ready to be cast. The line stretches, eighty hooks at a time, awaiting the fish that will reach the collection point before noon, heading straight for the Ponta Delgada auction.
This is how the fishing is done, two hundred days a year, in a rhythm set by the sea and the knowledge passed down through generations. By lunchtime, Paulo is on the quay, preparing the gamelas for the next trip.
At Octant Ponta Delgada, the fish that reaches the table tells this story – of an ancient trade, calloused hands, and a sea that continues to dictate time and life.
Palangre de fundo is a traditional fishing technique used by Paulo Louro. If the sea is calm, his boat, “Volta a Vir”, sets out from Lagoa harbor two hours before dawn and can travel up to six miles (around ten kilometers) offshore. It returns before lunchtime, delivering the fish to the local collection point, which is auctioned off in Ponta Delgada in the hours that follow. This is the daily rhythm, possible about 200 days a year on average.
Around lunchtime, it is common to find Paulo on the dock, preparing his nets. The palangre de fundo consists of boxes (gamelas), where the line is coiled, and thrown into the sea with eighty hooks. Pieces of fish, chicharro, squid, and swordfish are used as bait. For each trip to the sea, Paulo takes about twenty gamelas.
Paulo Louro has been a fisherman since he was born, in 1985.