Vador Manera

Vador is a fish­er­man, as was his grand­fa­ther be­fore him and one that might be termed “sus­tain­able”. Over the years and with the use of mod­ern tech­niques, the sea is be­com­ing “emp­tied” of fish, and Vador has been wit­ness to in­creas­ingly fewer fish but more and more plas­tic, wheels and waste. He be­lieves it is time for a “bi­o­log­i­cal rest” to allow the sea to re­stock. Also, if peo­ple tried out more species they would not al­ways be eat­ing the same type of fish, and things might have the chance to even out.

From March to June, Vador goes fish­ing for all kinds of fish: ru­fina, bream, snap­per, and more.... In July and Au­gust, he doesn’t take his boat out, as there are too many tourists and it makes the type of local fish­ing he does, so close to the shore, all but im­pos­si­ble. How­ever, in Sep­tem­ber he is back out there with his net, look­ing for local tuna or At­lantic bonito, as he has done all his life. In Oc­to­ber and No­vem­ber, de­pend­ing on the weather, it’s time to head for dry dock and clean and ready the boat for the next sea­son. Early in the year he heads out to catch oc­to­pus, just to keep things going through win­ter. With the ar­rival of spring from the month of March, the cycle at sea be­gins again.

Yet, Vador also has an­other pas­sion: laugh­ter! So, one day he de­cided to in­vent a show-cum-work­shop to make chil­dren aware of what hap­pens at sea and the need to re­cy­cle and not throw plas­tic away and to con­sume fish re­spon­si­bly. Thus was born Pescaplàstik, a show where a clown makes chil­dren laugh while they learn that it is im­por­tant to re­spect and care for our en­vi­ron­ment, es­pe­cially ma­rine life.

We met Vador on his boat, sur­rounded by all the gear he needs for his work, just after a morn­ing out fish­ing at the pier at Port de la Selva (Alt Em­porda).

1. Il­lu­mi­nated buoy, to sig­nal “fish­er­men at work”.

2. Bas­ket, for the long-line tackle.

3. Hand nets, to pull in the fish from the lines.

4. Oc­to­pus, sold to help fund the fish­er­men’s guild.

5. Tram­mel nets, for lob­sters and cray­fish, and scor­pion fish...

6. Hoop net, for oc­to­pus.

7. Black bucket, to fill the blue bas­kets with ice.

8. Iron or an­chor, in the event the boat sinks it will stop it from drift­ing away.

9. Lob­sters, highly-prized for mak­ing a seafood stew.

10. Fork­beard (mòllera) and sargo (sard), local fish best baked in the oven.

11. Eels, great for broth and rice dishes.

12. Ropes, to steady and fix the lines and nets.

13. Tra­di­tional fish­ing boat, Seven-metre long, wooden boat from the ’70s. It uses €150 worth of diesel a month.

14. The sea, Vador’s first love.

15. An­chor buoy, we can’t lose the an­chor!