Shrimping a way of life for coastal village in Uruguay
By Santiago Carbone
Barra de Valizas, Uruguay, Apr 13 (EFE).- “I grew up fishing,” says Andrea Rocha, one of the few women among the artisanal shrimpers in this community of barely 300 people in southeastern Uruguay.
On any given night during shrimp season, which corresponds to summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the 36-year-old Rocha will be out in a boat setting traps and collecting the catch.
But that’s only half of the job, as the fish must be filleted and the shrimp has to be peeled. “If you have to peel all day, you peel all day. There is no schedule,” Rocha says.
Asked by Efe if shrimping is a way of life, she responds without hesitation: “Yes, it’s the family’s sustenance.”
And the whole family pitches in for “Shrimp Week,” an annual pre-Easter event in Barra de Valizas that includes offering visitors the chance to join the shrimpers on their boats.
Other members of the Rocha clan take people on bird-watching and nature excursions on the channel that connects Castillo Lagoon to the Atlantic as part of the area’s investment in catering to the growing popularity of “slow tourism.”
The 2022 season started in January, earlier than expected, and the average daily haul was 80-100 kgs (176-220 lbs), Andrea says, adding that while the original plan was to freeze some of the catch as reserve for the winter, the family ultimately sold all of it to restaurants and individuals.
Barra de Valizas lies along the stretch of coast extending from Bahia, Brazil, southward to Mar de Plata, Argentina, that is the habitat of the pink shrimp, described by Andrea Rocha as “much tastier” than other varieties.
After breeding in the Rocha and Castillo lagoons, the shrimp are caught as they try to return to the open ocean.
On one side of Barra’s main square, named Leopoldina Rosa after one of the many ships that have sunk in the area over the centuries, is La Proa restaurant, where diners can choose from a range of dishes featuring the village’s renowned shrimp.
Owner Gustavo Nuñez, who arrived 26 years ago and spent 17 years as a shrimper, tells Efe that from the beginning, he focused on promoting locally produced food, and La Proa’s menu includes shrimp tacos, casseroles, risotto, and soup. EFE
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