Jul 04 2008
The traditional Italian fishery for bluefin tuna – tonnara
The use of the traditional traps (tonnare) in Sardinia (southern Italy) can be traced back to the 15th century when the areas were under Spanish influence. The tonnara is a complex fishing gear consisting of nets and chambers. Every year the trap is set out at the same place. A leading net that may be over 1000 meters long leads the fish into several chambers. Illustrasjon: P. Massidda.
The leading net lead the fish to different chambers whereas some can be opened and closed manually. The Italians name the leading net as “the tail” and the part with the chambers is referred to as “the castle”. A large number of heavy anchors are used in order to maintain the position of the tonnara.
At the end of the18.th century there were over 25 tonnare in Sardinia. The fishing season lasted from the end of April till the middle of June when the bluefin tuna were migrating along the coastline. The caught tuna end their lives in the last chamber in the trap; the chamber of death (camera della morte). From this part of the trap the tuna is forced to the surface and landed into boats attached to the trap. To the coastal communities this is an important event called “Mattanza”. The pictures on this post show this happening in the 1940’s. During this highlight of the catch as many as 100 fishermen may participate. In a single catch there could be several thousands tuna.
The tonnara was emptied 12-15 times during a season and the Mattanza was led by a supervisor; named the “Rais”. The pictures on this post shows fishermen from Carloforte (Sardinia). Almost the entire population in this coastal community are participating in the one of the many processes regarding the fishery, work related to the fishing gear, canning, freight, export and so on. Large bluefin tuna were sold fresh for local consumption or canned for export. At the end of the 1960’s there was a significant decrease in the catches for this traditional italian fishery and there are now only three tonnare left in Sardina. In the entire Mediterranean Sea there are believed to be not more than 10 such fish traps left. Photos given by Piero Addis.
What an interesting and readable post from historical European fishing – thanks for sharing!
I’m amazed at how much damage we have caused to the fish population. We’re depleting the ocean at rates we may not be able to replenish.
Dagny
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Again a very readable post and I do like that you dig into and share all the historical stuff – another important part (some not that nice to remember, but anyhow) of European history!
[...] Today, 10:25 PM When i see that video I cannot help be feel bad. BUT if you take the video for what it is worth (a bunch of horrific clips from across the world parsed together) you can pretty make the same video about anything bad. Abuse, Drunk driving, abortion etc. A few are from a Discovery show (the tuna clip) that is about the first day of Tuna fishing that feeds and supplies a whole Italian village for the year. A fish blog.com The traditional Italian fishery for bluefin tuna – tonnara [...]