Basque ethnography at a glance

Packers at the Ondarroa fish market, 19-06-2022. Author: Gabo Punzo. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

As in other areas of life, the roles and work of men and women in the maritime world have been, and continue to be, clearly separated. The role of women on the coast has been much more important and extensive than that of wives and mothers. If the role of women in the sea has been complementary to the work of men, it has been essential in fishing activities. In fact, the main responsibility of men has been going out to the sea and bring fish; but once they arrive at the port, the women do most of the work. They unload, transport and prepare the fish for sale; repair the nets, sell the fish, etc.

Perhaps the women least known in the sea are the enpakadorak (packers); that is to say, the women who classify the fish brought in by the trawlers and the pintxeruek (those who work with hooks). In other words, the women in the boats of the high seas. The packers only work in the port of Ondarroa, since there is almost no trawler fishing in other localities.

In the 1980s, there were around 140 trawling boats in Ondarroa, each with a crew of 10 to 12 women to unload. Today, however, there are only a few left.

After landing the fish and taking it to the market, the work of the enpakadorak begins. Their task is the following: first remove the plastic and ice from the boxes, and classify, handle or separate the fish according to their weight and size. After that, they put labels on them, put them back on ice and cover them with plastic. Women’s work is preparing fish for sale.

While the fishermen are in the sea, they carry out a kind of provisional classification, but even so, many fish end up being mixed, so they have to be weighed and classified one by one. A woman with experience, after so many years, can calculate the weight of the fish at a glance and by pulse; almost without using a scale.

Guided tour in the Ondarroa fish market, 22-06-2022. Author: Akaitze Kamiruaga.                                                      Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

Trawl fishing focuses mainly on white fish: hake, monkfish, bream, megrim, pouting, sole, loach, squid, sea bass, carp… All of them must be taken care of one by one with much patience, placing them in a box on the floor, each one in its place.

Today, most of the boats arrive on Sundays and the packers work from early afternoon to early morning, depending on the number of fish unloaded; because they never know how many hours a day they will have. They have always worked during the night; and, they had to do it almost every day. They unloaded three or four boats in one night.

The work of these women is very hard, due to the harsh conditions: night, limited hours, cold, humidity, long days, carrying heavy weights, having to bend down for long periods… Among them, humidity is their biggest enemy, so in the past they wore a lot of clothes to avoid catching a cold. The shoes were katiuskas (Wellington boots, or gomazko txankluk in Ondarroa) and two or three pairs of socks were used. Now, however, they have adequate clothing, shoes and gloves, and adequate aprons to protect themselves from the humidity. Each one has to pay his own.

The packers do not have a fixed salary. The salary depends on the discharge, and they are paid per discharge; it does not matter if they work four, five or six hours. Around €55-60 per download. Although the conditions are better now, the work is very limited, and coming to the market once a week, is impossible to earn a living.

Currently, packers offer guided tours in Ondarroa to continue the dissemination of women’s work at sea, explain the nature of their profession and the evolution of this way of life. It’s an excellent opportunity to spend a nice day and get to know the women of the sea better.

Akaitze Kamiruaga

Popular Cultural Heritage Department – Labayru Fundazioa