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italics mine, RvG). Rais Cataldo maintaìns: 'This fishing gives you The sight of sleek and graceful bluefins being gaffed is heartbreak-
goose bumps- emotions only rarely felt, in our hearts, in our blood,
watching them [the tonnaroti] catch those huge animals, caught
firstly with our intelligence, later with our strength, but not with
strength alone.' 19 The appearance of the mattanza is violent, but ìt
entails dose communication between the tuna and the tonnaroti, who
show a deep respect for the tuna and sing to them. When taking the
tuna, the tonnaroti claim to be in harmony with nature. They say the
tuna die well but they are not killed bur merely taken out of the wa-
ter. As rais Cataldo contends: 'We don't really kill, I don' t like this
term, I fish the tuna, I don' t kill the tuna, I fìsh i t- and the mattanza
20
is the final act, after so many sacrifices.' The spilling ofblood due
to the gaffing does not change this, and this is linked with the fish-
ermen's classification of tuna as a fish not an animai:
le sang des thons est un épiphénomène qui ne peut égarer que les ig-
norants, la mattanza est bien une peche, et les thons sont bien des
poissons. Cela se résume en une phrase, d'une évidence totale pour
les ìliens: 'Le thon n'est pas un animal! C'est un poisson!' La caté-
gorie "poissons" est donc expressément opposée à la catégorie des
'animaux'; et puisque la viande ne saurait provenir que des 'ani-
maux', la chair du thon reste poisson, malgré la spectaculaire évi-
dence du sang (Vialles 1998: 147). ·
Blood is a powerful symbol, not just for the fishermen, but also
for onlookers. Spilling it may arouse people's disgust and carnai fas-
cination, as is evidenced by the number of visitors who arri ve in the
area just to watch this ancient rite. As one eyewitness confesses, he
got sick but stili shot several rolls of film: 'There's a frenzy of
blood. It was bloodier than I imagined. The ritual was almost Pagan-
like. Before they did this they were singing Christian songs. The rit-
21
ual is part of the old Italian culture.' The renowned marine artist,
writer and researcher Richard Ellis was appalled when watching a
mattanza on film:
19 Transcription of interview for Tonnara (Hope 2002).
20 Transcription ofinterview for Tonnara (Hope 2002).
21 http://www.europetheeasyway.com/Article.htm. Last accessed May 18,
2005.
ing. One moment they are on what Cousteau called their 'honey-
moon', and the next they are thrashing in a panicked melée as heavy
steel hooks are smashed imo their bodies and they are hauled igno-
miniously from the only element they have ever known into the one
where they will die. Bluefins are among the most powerful and
beautiful of the oceans' top predators, and seeing them gaffed is like
watching a thoroughbred racehorse being hacked to death with an
axe. 22
Though some can hardly hide their disgust, th\ heroic man-to-
animai sttuggle has also captured the imagination ofseveral film and
documentary makers, painters and photographers who attempt to vi-
sualise the undeniable- albeit gruesome- aesthetics of the process.
The cultura! importance of the mattanza is indeed shown in the
ancient names, songs, ceremonies, rituals, beliefs and prayers that ac-
company the work. I t is a source of p ride, a referent of identity and
an activity shrouded in religious attention. As we have already seen,
religious worship accompanies all stages of the tonnara operation,
making i t not only a focal point oflocal economie, social and cultura!
life, bur also of spirituallife. The first tuna caught is offered to the
Madonna. An outdoor altar construction of the Virgin Mary holding
a tuna in her lap is facing the sea. Women gather daily at this
Madonna of the Tonnaroti to pray for the success of the mattanza
(Singer 1999:64). The tonnaroti revere the Madonna del Rosario in
the church of Sant' Anna. During the tuna season the mattanza is re-
peated as many times as the rais deems necessary, depending on the
quantity of tuna entering the trap. The tonnara season ends in the
course ofJune, if possible by the feast day ofSt. Anthony on 13 ]une.
Following the season there is stili much work in deconstructing, re-
pairing and storing the nets, floats and anchors, which may last an-
other month or so. Most tonnaroti then take up other jobs until the
next spring, usually as fishermen. But the reproduction of the mat-
tanza ritual is presently in peril.
22 Ellis, R. (2003) 'Mediterranean Massacre', Ecologist Online,
http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=422, Last acces-
sed July 6, 2005.