The Mareantes Guild of Pontevedra the living history of Galician fishing.

Antiguo Puente de La Barca, que fue construído por el Gremio de Mareantes de Pontevedra.

Old Bridge of La Barca, which was built by the Guild of Mareantes (Seoane & Prado Collection).

In the 16th century Pontevedra the tidal guild reached great visibility. Juan Juega Puig, among others, has studied this issue and well illustrates the jurisdiction that he achieved for himself, in an age of privileges and exclusions for economic activity. "The deslinde of the river of Aldan with the tides of Cangas dates from 1501," says the author. This jurisdiction covered, on the coast, "from the Tranqueiros de Aguiño to the Estelas de Baiona," in which the tidal guild of Pontevedra exercised its authority. (Aguiño on the southwestern coast of the current province of A Coruña and Baiona near the southwestern end of Pontevedra).

José Luis Arellano es el Presidente del Gremio de Mareantes, que tuvo su germen en el año 1320.

José Luis Arellano is the President of the Mareantes Guild, who had his germ in 1320.

But if the tides have this power, it is for two reasons: the first because the Archbishop of Santiago gives it to him, and the second because the guild is an extraordinary source of income for the village of Pontevedra, then the most populated of Galicia, including the cities with bishopric. The archbishop, for his part, will receive his non-small fee. The first known tidal ordinances - we follow Juan Jueg- are 1523, then renewed to adapt in 1531 and in several more years until 1596, it seems that the latter did not become effective. The main objective of the ordinances will be to limit to the maximum the activity of the "xeites," which were widely used in the river as fishing art for the capture of the sardine. It is to extend the network by leaving it in the water so that the sardines are caught. The fence, for its part, was to surround with the net the zone where it was intended to fish, holding the ends of it to the bow and to the stern of the boat. During the 17th century its use declined.

El Gremio organiza diversas actividades culturales y no descuida el deporte, como el caso del remo de banco fijo. En la imagen el edificio que alberga la institución centenaria en el centro de Pontevedra a orillas del Lérez.

The Guilio organizes various cultural activities and does not neglect sport, such as the fixed bank rowing. In the image the building that houses the centenary institution in the center of Pontevedra on the banks of the Lérez, which is located on the docks of As Corbaceiras.

The community of interests between the archbishops of Santiago and the tides will not avoid the feuds between the two sides: the second were aware that the work was dependent on them, and the first one was a ducho - as at all times the Church - in pleading for the smallest reason. But the pleas were not limited to the two parties indicated, but the tidal guild of Pontevedra also had differences with the fishermen of Portonovo, particularly in the years 1569, 1582 and 1594, "when the struggle between the fences and the 'xeites' reached its greatest virulence." The problem is that the 'xeites' were increasing in number and occupied the whole ría, making the catch by means of fences decrease. This is what Melchor de Teves Brito, the Corridor of Pontevedra, saw in the few years when the villa was a realingo. The Royal Audence of Galicia, shortly thereafter, was of the same opinion, coming to the conclusion that at the end of the 16th century the flourishing fishing pontevedresa depended on winning or losing in this dispute. It was already known that the river was not capable of holding a holding with the two fishing gear.

The fact is that "the fences, always small and therefore easily verifiable, were privileged against the remaining fishing gear, so that all the reports made by the Crown officials were favourable to them." But the 'xeites' did not disappear, as if a survival instinct made their users resist, knowing that the river, beyond jurisdictions achieved in one way or another, was of common use. The preference for the minor arts, says Juan Juega, would be accompanied by a displacement of the population from the large villas to the small ports. An archbishopric privilege had become a double-edged weapon. The abandonment of the Moureira district in Pontevedra coincides with the increase of neighbors in villages such as Portonovo.

Lo religioso dentro de la más profunda tradición marinera tiene su espacio en el Gremio. Su acto más relevando el acompañamiento al Cristo Crucificado en la Procesión del Viernes Santo en Pontevedra.

The religious within the deepest marine tradition has its space in the Guild. His act further relieved the accompaniment to the Crucified Christ in the Holy Friday Procession in Pontevedra.

But then the tidal pontevedreses will move to those ports, with a change of strategy. The author to whom we glossed provides the following data regarding the use of the fence: in 1526, eight, up to 13 in 1550, 15 in 1574, to descend to 1 in 1608. The war with Portugal for its independence from the Spanish monarchy, which in Galicia and other points spread until the 1960s of the 17th century, was a total abandonment of the fence as a fishing art.

Text: poiopoio.blogsport.com- "Solosechenosenenada"