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expenses involved in setting the trap, there is a lot of anxiety as to dressed as tonno but as tunnina, indicating its changed status from a
whether the tuna will show up or not. Other uncertainties include
inclement weather that may prevent setting the trap on schedule,
unfavourable currents and passing ships that may damage the trap.
When the rais decides the tonnara is full enough with runa, he calls
fora mattanza, the apotheosis of the entire operation.
On the morning of the mattanza, the men of the ciurma surround
the fina! chamber of the tonnara with their boats and dose its gate.
Bach boat has a skipper who directs a crew of eight. From his small
boat called the musciara, the rais directs the work of the men in the
other long flat-bottomed boats (vascelli). From these, the tuna will be
gaffed. On the rais's sign, the lifting of the death chamber's tightly
knitted floor net, il coppo, commences, bringing the tuna to the sur-
face while the men sing in unison (cf Maggio 2000:29-31). The lead
singer or Prima Voce of the ciurma sings the verses of the traditional
work songs, while the other men sing the chorus in unison: 'aja mole!
aja mole'. The chants lend rhythm to the heaving of the nets, which
is done manually. The rais sees to i t that the net is raised evenly. On
his command 'Spara a tunina!' (Spear the tuna!), the tuna are hooked
with barbed gaffs (crocchi) and hauled into the boats by five teams of
eight fìshermen, accompanied by their shouting. Their screaming in-
cites the fìshermen to overcome the vitality of the tuna and expresses
grief for the destiny of their prey. 13 Of the teams of eight that gaff
and haul in the tuna, the two fishermen in the centre - the arringatore
- hold important positions; they have to be the strongest and most
14
experienced at gaffing the tuna. They use the shortest gaffs, the
speta, and are closest to the struggling tuna (Maggio 2000: l 04). O ne
of the fìshermen takes care of the killing of the fìsh by cutting two
large arteries, whereupon the sea is running red with blood. The tuna
die quickly. The whole procedure of lifting ali the entrapped tuna
aboard takes about an hour. Once caught, the runa is no longer ad-
13 The T una Hunt in Portoscuso.
http://www.sardynianews.it/mese lla3e.htm. Last accessed May 18, 2005.
14
Arringatore literally means 'haranguer'- referring to the shouting ac-
companying the operation.
wild, free-roaming beast to a 'tamed' animai.
Upon lifting the last tuna aboard, the tonnaroti praise the lord.
If the catch has been plentiful, they sing a song of praise for the rais
and metaphorically promise him the most beautiful giri in town as
his prize (Stabile and Martorana 1999:77). tfhe lyrics sometimes get
bawdy, and the singers can even poke fun at the rais- the only time
his authority can be freely mocked. Because a mattanza is the catch of
an entire school of fish, dozens of tuna may be caprured. I t is a spec-
tacular scene with struggling men carrying out their dangerous tasks
and fish and erupting seawater turning red from the runa's blood. A
successful mattanza requires coordinateci effort, experience, skill,
strength, luck and- perhaps above all- patience. It is 'a waiting
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game', says rais Gioacchino Cataldo. 'T una fìshing wi th the tonnara
means waiting. It requires patience and tranquillity and hope. The
fìsherman waits and observes the sea, which often provides surprises,
16
even nasty ones, when you least expect it.' 'The tuna I can catch in
three months, theJapanese can catch in an hour. But they search for
tuna with airplanes and helicopters, and I wait, I wait ... But often,
17
the world is too tired to wait. That's the difference.' He compares
the waiting for the tuna with the waiting fora beautiful giri: 'you
18
feel i t in your heart, no matter how long you have to wait.'
After ali entrapped tuna are taken, the tonnaroti jump in the
bloody water in a ritual act that, according to anthropologist Serge
Collet (personal communication), is symbolic for regeneration and
reproduction. Hence, it is a literal blood bath. An experienced ton-
naroto, Rocco Ponzio, said: 'Forme, [the mattanza is} the most that
life has to offer. W e risk our lives killing the giant tuna. The blood of
the tuna makes mefeel monstrously strong' (quoted in Singer 1999:65,
15 Transcription of interview for Tonnara (Hope 2002).
16
Rais Gioacchino Cataldo t o Sylvia Poggioli for National Public Radio,
July 23, 2000 (transcript).
17 Video fragment on http://3w-production.de/Offers.asp#, Last accessed
June 27, 2005.
18 Cataldo in the TV documentary Blutrausch vor Sizilien.