On the sea off Costa da Caparica, the same gesture has been repeated for more than two centuries. Before sunrise, the boat breaks through the surf and leaves the end of a rope on the sand. The rest is strength, patience and knowledge: the crew, men and women alike, hauling the sea to shore until the net opens on the beach and gives back whatever the Atlantic chose to give. It is called Arte-Xávega. Brought here by fishermen from Ílhavo and Olhão in the late eighteenth century, it shaped itself to this open beach, these sandy depths, this fish that draws near the coast as the light fades.
