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those occurring in the last two centuries relate to environmental problems, while conflicts

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relating to gear and property rights appeared in the 17 and 18 centuries (Di Natale &
Indrissi 2012, p. 176). The Italian traps are the most referred to of the tuna traps in the

Mediterranean (Di Natale & Indrissi 2012, p. 176).

Testing fishers’ hypothesis

Recently fishery management regimes have attempted to integrate fisher knowledge. There

are numerous localised initiatives around the world designed to collect fisher ecological

knowledge and to involve fishers and incorporate their knowledge into science and

management (McGoodwin et al. 2000, p. 250). These initiatives aim to break the deadlock

that had developed in many fisheries and followed on from a series of social science

publications in the 1970s and 1980s that argued for the collection and integration of fish

harvesters’ knowledge into modern fisheries science and management (McGoodwin et al.

2000, p. 250).

The tonnara is a good case study. For example, Addis, Secci and Cau undertook

research in the trap to test a claim of the tonnarotti that:

...the occurrence and abundance of Bluefin tuna in the trap chambers are affected
by the strong wind from the northwest (the Mistral) because it helps to transport
them along their path and thus towards the entrance of the trap. (Addis et al. 2013,
p. 420)

The scientists used two separate time-scale analyses: a short time scale based on daily

underwater visual counts of bluefin in the trap chambers matched with daily wind data, and a

longer-term scale that made use of records obtained from historical trap captures and wind

statistics (Addis et al. 2013, p. 420). The results showed that ‘Bluefin tuna occurrence and

abundance in Mediterranean trap fishery can be affected by the episodes of NW wind’ (Addis

et al. 2013, p. 426) – the mistral winds I mentioned in chapter four. There are several factors

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