Page 2 - MATTANZA_2010

This artide focuses on the time-honoured tuna fìshery ofFavig- power of blood. Tension builds when both fishermen and tourists
nana (Sicily) and especially its concluding ritual of the mattanza; the
2
killing of the tuna. The fìshery is in serious decline mainly due to
over-fìshing by foreign commerciai fleets, but the local tuna fìsher-
men srubbornly hold on to their tradition, despite all odds. They
have rime and again recreated the fìshery in an attempt at economie,
social and cultural survival. When I recently read Theresa Maggio's
fascinating book Mattanza (Maggio 2000), I was captivated by the
steadfasrness with which the Favignanese tuna fìshermen attempt to
continue the ritual. With my curiosity aroused, I decided to conduct
more systematic research into the literature on the mattanza, the con-
tents of several relevant websites and audiovisual material. The pres-
ent artide is the result of these inquiries and attempts to piece
together the bits of information I gleaned from this variety of
sources. It seeks to understand why the mattanza is so important to
3
the Favignanesi and how the ritual changed following the economie
decline of the tuna fìshery. It is presently identity matters being
aware of who they are as tuna fìshermen - that exceeds the economie
importance of the mattanza by far. By performing the mattanza, the
Favignanesi recreate their sense of selves.
However, in search of authenticiry, tourists have also discovered
the ritual and flock to the island in large numbers to watch the spec-
tacle. Though this tourist gaze reinforces the fìshermen's self-aware-
ness, it has also led to protests against the mattanza as being little
more than a tourist show like the Spanish bullfight. Both fascination
and disgust would seem to be inextricably linked wìth the symbolic
2 Theresa Maggio's popular book Mattanza: Love and Death in the Sea of
Sicily (2000) has made the ritual world-famous and will be used here as an im- catches brought about a depletion of tuna stocks (Pitcher 2001:603).
portant source of information. Though not a scholarly work, i t contains exten- Once a common tuna fìshing method, tuna traps have gradually al-
sive descriptions of rhe mattanza. For anthropological accounts, see Collet
(1987) and Singer (1999). Fora brief overview and compelling photographs,
see Stabile and Martorana (1999). For ethnographic films, see Singer (1997)
and Hope (2002).
3 Doing ethnographic research on the digital highway can of course never
replace conducting actual anthropological fieldwork. There are many puzzles
and questions that remain unsolved, and that would require a prolonged stay
nn Rm1 an"n" ro oh~PrvP a nel interview the fishermen.
await the arrivai of the tuna and upon the catharsis of gaffìng the fìsh
there is an excited, even phrantic atmosphere. Before going into
these matters, I shall first briefly deal with the present state of tuna
fisheries and the history, technique and social organisation of the
mattanza.
Trapping the 'Pig of the Sea'
Bluefin tuna (thunnus thynnus L.) migrate in schools from the
North Atlantic to the Mediterranean in May to spawn and they fol-
low more or less fixed migration routes, making the fìsh a pre-
dictable target for local fìshermen. They can live for more than thirty
years, reach over three meters in length and large specimens can
weigh as much as 650 kilos or even more. They are top predators that
feed on fìsh, squids and crustaceans. Throughout the Mediterranean,
bluefin tuna have been caught in abundance for many cenruries us-
ing large trap nets or tonnara (Pitcher 2001). Dubbed 'pig of the sea'
for its versatility on the table, tuna was salted, pickled and turned
into almost as many sausage products as pork itself. From an early
stage onward, salted tuna became an important export product. Of-
ten, saltpans and tuna traps were constructed in each other's vicinity.
The tuna fìshery brought wealth to many Mediterranean communi-
ties and '[s}overeigns at times demonstrated their largesse- in return
for appropriate services - by granting prominent families exclusive
rights to the ownership and operation of certain tuna traps' (Roesti
1966:85).
A considerable expansion of this tra p fìshing technique occurred
in the 1800s as a result of the invention of canning. But increasing
most completely disappeared from the Mediterranean coasts due to
dwindling catches. In Sicily alone, some eighty tuna traps were stili
used in the early 20'h century. But today, this passive method with
fìxed gear survives in less than a handful of places. Since the demand
for bluefin tuna has increased in world markets, they have been
hunted relentlessly with modern fìshing techniques such as long-
lines and purse seines. Helicopters and small airplanes are used to