sadie ...they don't need fishing rods ....
there are fish markets fish restaurants ...boats selling fresh fish....
The most you see are chickens.....
even a favorite saying for GA ...is sardine muncher.....
you are wrong with the pigs....The most you see alive are chickens.....
Fishing takes time. A lot especially if you are some miles from water ... and you need a boat (preferably) and rods etc.
The Portuguese as a race are quite poor. My Portuguese friend, a man of 30 and a computer expert and linguist, (several languages) worked in a hospital and he earned about £7.000 per year working a full week. That was about 8 years ago.
People in this country would not get out of bed for that sort of money.
One free way of keeping your family properly fed was to keep pigs, breed, feed and slaughter them yourself. In my opinion, Leandro and Leonor were good parents.
My suspicion is that many of the poorer families in PT would do likewise and keep a pig/pigs