Page 3 - MATTANZA_2010

spot shoals of tuna that are subsequently scooped up by industriai photographed and filmed numerous times. Favignana;s tonnara is a
fishing fleets. Bluefin tuna are consequently diminishing in numbers
and size and have been considered overexploited since 1982.
Tuna stocks are most threatened in the Mediterranean, where
about twenty per cent of the world's dwindling supply is caught.
Bluefin tuna are commercially highly valuable. Most tuna caught in
the Mediterranean are packed in ice and flown directly to Tokyo's
Tsukiji fish market, where individuai giants may fetch extremely
high prices of over US$ 100.000. Consumer appetite for sushi and
sashimi seems insatiable. The scarcity ofbluefin tuna has prompted
legai restrictions. The International Commission for the Conserva-
tion of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) regulates the fishery (Block et al.
2001). It has developed a management regime for the eastern bluefin
tuna stock based on a Total Allowable Catch, with quotas being allo-
cateci on a state-by-state basis. This makes bluefin tuna the only fish
resource in the Mediterranean managed through quota regulations.
However, the efficiency of the bluefin tuna management regime is
limited, mainly due to the lack ofExclusive Economie Zones (EEZs)
in the Mediterranean and the related problems of enforcing legisla-
tion in international waters.
One of the very few places where the traditional tuna trap fish-
eries have survived so far is Favignana, a tiny (19 square kilometres)
4
island offSicily's west coast. It is a close-knit community with ap-
proximately 3,200 inhabitants, most of whom live in Favignana
città, the island's port town. Favignana is often referred to as La Far-
falla on account of its shape that resembles a butterfly <farfalla) a-
flutter. Its western wing is dominateci by the 300 metres high
Montagna Grossa with the fort Santa Caterina on top. Its eastern
wing is much flatter. Here, tufa stone used to be quarried. Favignana
is o ne of the three Egadi Islands ( the other ones being Levanzo an d
Marettimo) and today i t is a popular tourist resort, not least for its
specific ways of tuna fishing which have been watched, described,
4 The tradition also exists in Bonagfa, Sicily (cf. Ravazza 1999). Until re-
cently, it was also extant in Portoscuso and Carloforte (Sardinia) and in
Camogli (Norrhern Italy). Outside Italy, there are still traditional tuna traps
in Spain (2), Croatia (2), Libya (2), Tunisia (2) and Morocco (1).
sophisticated trap system consisting of kilometres of netted walls de-
signed and positioned to deflect tuna migrating along the coast. The
trap comprises kilometres of steel cable, more than four hundred iron
anchors weighing from six-hundred to four-thousand pounds, more
than 3,500 stone weights of forty pounds each, and enormous nets of
nylon or coconut fibre. The nets are anchored parallel to the coast, are
gradually restricted in size, and raised towards the surface. The ton-
nara's two kilometres-long wings guide the tuna to the entrance or
'mouth' of the trap. A series of six successive chambers with distinct
names, each divided by a net gate, lead to the final seventh chamber,
5
la camera della morte, 'the chamber of death'. The fishermen herd the
tuna from one chamber to the next; lowering the dividing net once
the tuna have passed through (Pitcher 2001:603).
For hundreds of years, the local fishermen have been using a ton-
nara to capture bluefin tuna (cf. Collet 1987; Maggio 2000; Ravier
and Fromentin 2001). Arabs founded Favignana's tonnara in 807
A.D., though they may have found a trap already in place. Sicily's
first King claimed the tonnara for the crown in the 11 rh century but
often leased it to generate income (Maggio 2000:57). Parts of the sea
were appropriateci as private property and a feudal mode of produc-
tion carne about (Collet 1987 :46). Medieval ton naro ti worked fora
wage specified in a seasonal contract and received a percentage of the
tuna and other fish inadvertently trapped (Maggio 2000:58). In Me-
dieval times, the tuna traps ofFavignana and elsewhere on Sicily con-
trìbuted considerably to economie life. In the 12rh and 13'h centuries,
Favignana's tonnara 'présente les traits d'une protoindustrialisation
de type capitaliste, fonctionnant avec un important capi tal productif,
un système de rénumération précocement monétarisé. Le production
est tournée vers le marché, vers les marches urbains se trouvant à
grande distance' (Collet 1987:46). Catch records go back to as early
as 15 99. In the seventeenth century, Favignana' s tonnara had a repu-
tation ofbeing the 'queen' of the Mediterranean tuna traps. Between
5 The barrier nets or wings also have distinct names: la coda and la costa.
The names of the chambers are levante, camera grande, bordonaia, bastardo, ca-
mera, bastardella, and finally camera della morte (Maggio 2000: 129-130).
55