Scraping by on barnacles in Spain

“We live off the barnacles,” says Susana Gonzalez Alvarez.

The number of collecting days has been reduced because the stocks of barnacles have fallen, and she blames over-fishing, caused by people collecting the barnacles without a licence.

“The fewer days we go out, the fewer barnacles we collect, and the less money we earn.”

Ms Gonzalez is continuing a female family tradition. Her mother and grandmother were barnacle-collectors before her.

And she works on the rocks in a team, with her three sisters, Eladia, Isabel and Belen.

As each wave goes out, they follow quickly after, moving stealthily to the rocks’ edge, where they chip away at barnacles with a pole.

Often they have to then run, as a wave crashes in, and the powerful currents of the Atlantic swirl around the rocks.

“It’s a job in which accidents are common, people often fracture arms and legs, and you can easily fall into the sea,” says Isabel.

But inexperienced, illegal collectors are undeterred, and often do not respect the rules over the size of the barnacles you are supposed to pick and the parts of the coastline where you are not allowed to gather.

The high price of these slimy snacks is something more and more people cannot resist, and the four sisters are among those who lose out.