“O Peixe Sempre Vence”: lições sobre meio ambiente do ponto de vista de pescadores artesanais

This text presents fragments of two ethnographic researches carried out in different national contexts, namely, Brazil and Portugal. The investigation purpose was to understand the perception of artisanal fishermen from two villages about regarding their relations with official environmental management in each society. Thus, ethnography used the contrastive comparative method in order to highlight the most striking characteristics of each researched context. In addition to institutional and cultural differences, the research also revealed similarities about the perceptions that Brazilian and Portuguese fishermen have about the environment. Here, therefore, their points of view on the fishes’ behavior and the ecosystems dynamics to which they are associated through fishing practices will be highlighted based on two native enouncement: fishing is a game and fish always wins.