Ancestral Fishing Knowledge From Arraial do Cabo
Documentary in development
Logline: At the crossroads between the unbridled advance of mass tourism and the strength of tradition, an oceanographer and filmmaker returns to his roots in Arraial do Cabo to document the last masters of "borçada canoe" fishing, weaving a story of resistance, memory, and coastal heritage.
At Praia Grande, Turiba shares that he is one of the few fishermen left who still masters the art of making nets, whether it's a surrounding net, bamboo net, or dip net. Listening to these masters is to understand that the true technology of fishing lives in their hands and memory.
Synopsis: The sea has never been just a backdrop. For oceanographer and filmmaker Lucas Silva, the waters of Arraial do Cabo are the foundation of his home. Born into a traditional artisanal fishing family, he grew up among the nets woven by his grandfather and the stories his uncles brought back from the ocean.
In Preserving Arraial’s Ancestral Fishing Knowledge, Lucas returns to his origins to investigate the imminent disappearance of the traditional "borçada canoe" fishing. Through the intimate and urgent accounts of masters like Turiba, Moacyr, Jamil, and Bitico, the film reveals the harsh reality of a centuries-old craft being squeezed by mass tourism, the lack of support from public authorities, and the absence of a new generation of apprentices.
From century-old canoes carved from a single tree trunk—kept afloat by true miracles of boat carpentry—to net-mending needles preserved as relics passed down from father to son, the documentary is an emotional reclamation of true coastal technology. More than just recording the scarcity of fish or the loss of the fisherman's physical space in the city, the film is a poignant testimony to the resilience of men who refuse to abandon the tide. As the masters say: the fish may dwindle, but the tradition and the canoe will always exist.
How are great masters born? By observing. Before mastering naval carpentry, Master Harildo was just a 12-year-old boy selling coconut candy on the streets and beaches of Arraial do Cabo. It was while watching Seu Manduca repair canoes that a lifelong tradition began to take shape in pieces of wood and clogs. A glimpse of what's to come. Stay tuned to follow the next steps in this production.
Director's Statement: For ocean protection to be effective, pure science needs translation; it needs stories that touch the heart. Developed through the Benthos Story Lab and supported by the Ocean Culture Life community, this documentary acts as a bridge between global scientific knowledge and local ancestral wisdom. Here, protecting the ocean transcends ecology: it is about protecting a family's history and ensuring that the voices, the calloused hands, and the memories of coastal communities echo forever.
