I keep publishing films and this one is rather special. Allthough the quality is “average” it is a very rare film as it is from 1952 and in colors. It is also a unique documenation of the first years of fishing bluefin tuna with purse seine in Norway.
The film shows an ordinary Norwegian fishing vessel using a tuna purse seine. Allthough it seems primitive, this was how it was done in the early 1950’s. The fishing vessel gets a large catch and the catch is more than the vessel and the crew can handle. The captain calls for help, and when the film starts we can see that another vessel (named “Ådrott”) has arrived. With one vessel on each side of the purse seine the crew lift the tuna out of the purse seine.
When a bluefin tuna dies it sinks, and the weight of the dead fish in a large catch could make it impossible to lift the purse seine and the fish to the surface. The force of the heavy purse seine could also be a danger to the purse seiner and the crew. That is why we can see that a third vessel and two motor boats starts to tow the purse seiner and the catch while the vessel “Ådrott” still helps to stabilize the weight in the purse seine.
The heavy purse seine, the purse seiner and the vessel “Ådrott” are towed towards land, and when reaching shallow waters the purse seine with all the dead tuna is rested on the bottom. Then we can see how the fishermen are “fishing” for dead tuna in the purse seine. We can see several smaller boats helping out, and this film is recorded by a man in one of the motorboats that assisted the purse seiner.
1952 was the best year for bluefin tuna fishing in Norway. Catches of several hundred fish were not unusual. The tuna seen on the film have an average weight of 120 kilogram. Unfortunately the number of fish in this catch is not known. The catch was loaded on several vessels and landed on different locations. It is still likely to believe that there must have been more than 200 bluefin tuna in the catch.
The giant tuna – bluefin tuna – once was a common fish along the Norwegian coast. Every summer large schools of bluefin tuna entered the coast. From 1950 this became an important fishery for Norwegian purse seiners. The film shown below shows a Norwegian fishing vessel named “Speranza” on the fishing grounds in 1967.
In 1986 the last school of bluefin tuna was surrounded by a Norwegian purse seine. Today the bluefin tuna is endangered – suffering from the pressure of commercial interests all over the world. Norway has a quota, but the Norwegian Department of Fishery has stated that Norway will not fish bluefin tuna until the stock is managed in a responsible way and in accordance with the advice and recommendations given by scientists.
Norway is familiar with overfishing, but the nation has learned by mistakes done in the past. Hopefully the bluefin tuna some day again will find its way northwards to the feeding areas along the Norwegian coast.
It was a pleasant surprise when some pictures from Sardinia dropped into my mailbox. The pictures were sent to me by Piero Addis and show fishermen from Sardinia (Italy) fishing bluefin tuna with the traditional fish trap called “tonnara”. This kind of fish trap is still in use in Sardinia although the decrease in the bluefin tuna stock has led to a decrease in the catches and number of fish traps. There are now only three fish traps left in Sardinia. One of them can be seen below.
The first two pictures show the “Mattanza”, the happening when the bluefin tuna is trapped in the last chamber of the tonnara. This has always been an important event for the fishermen in Sardinia.
The net is hauled and the bluefin tuna is forced to the surface where they will be landed into the vessels surrounding the chamber – also referred to as “the chamber of death”. The last years there has been a significant decrease in the average size of the fish caught in these traps. While swimming in the tonnara there are still some nice seized bluefin tuna to see.
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.
