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The use of the traditional traps (tonnare) in Sardinia (southern Italy) can be traced back to the 15th century when the areas were under Spanish influence. The tonnara is a complex fishing gear consisting of nets and chambers. Every year the trap is set out at the same place. A leading net that may be over 1000 meters long leads the fish into several chambers. Illustrasjon: P. Massidda.

The leading net lead the fish to different chambers whereas some can be opened and closed manually. The Italians name the leading net as “the tail” and the part with the chambers is referred to as “the castle”. A large number of heavy anchors are used in order to maintain the position of the tonnara.

At the end of the18.th century there were over 25 tonnare in Sardinia. The fishing season lasted from the end of April till the middle of June when the bluefin tuna were migrating along the coastline. The caught tuna end their lives in the last chamber in the trap; the chamber of death (camera della morte). From this part of the trap the tuna is forced to the surface and landed into boats attached to the trap. To the coastal communities this is an important event called “Mattanza”. The pictures on this post show this happening in the 1940’s. During this highlight of the catch as many as 100 fishermen may participate. In a single catch there could be several thousands tuna.

The tonnara was emptied 12-15 times during a season and the Mattanza was led by a supervisor; named the “Rais”. The pictures on this post shows fishermen from Carloforte (Sardinia). Almost the entire population in this coastal community are participating in the one of the many processes regarding the fishery, work related to the fishing gear, canning, freight, export and so on. Large bluefin tuna were sold fresh for local consumption or canned for export. At the end of the 1960’s there was a significant decrease in the catches for this traditional italian fishery and there are now only three tonnare left in Sardina. In the entire Mediterranean Sea there are believed to be not more than 10 such fish traps left. Photos given by Piero Addis.

Tags: bluefin tuna, italia, italian fish trap, italian tuna fishing, mattanza, tonnara, tonnare, tuna fishing

Some pictures dropped into may mailbox today. The pictures were sent by Torstein Halstensen and show some highlights from his last fishing trips. Earlier I have showed pictures of a giant ling and the one caught recently by Torstein and his friends is a nice one too. The ling (shown below) was taken with long lines on deep water off the coast of Norway.

On “A fish blog” you will find a couple of posts about Torstein and his friends tagging halibut. All halibut caught are tagged and released. Below there are two pictures showing halibut caught on long lines. On the first picture Kjetil Tjeldflått is hauling the line.

On the picture above you can see Torstein holding a halibut with the red tag placed near the dorsal fin. The picture was taken by an experienced halibut fisherman; Sigfred Kvellestad.

The last picture shows Arild Henneli holding a halibut just before it was released. We can also se the “edible” part of the catch; mostly large ling. Each hook on the line was baited with half a mackerel.

Tags: fishing halibut, fishing ling, halibut pictures, large ling, ling pictures

The ballan wrasse (Labrus Bergylta) is a common fish along the coast of countries around the North Sea. In the summer the wrasse seek to shallow waters where they are easy to catch. The ballan wrasse is a regular visitor to my fishing nets when the nets are set on shallow water close to the shore. The wrasse is also easy to catch by using a regular fishing rod. You may then use a small fishing hook and bait it with periwinkles found in the shoreline.

In Norway there are no commercial fishery for ballan wrasse, and most recreational fishermen are not interested in the large and “bony” wrasse. Most people are therefore surprised when they finally get a chance to taste this unpopular fish.

It is surprisingly easy to fillet a wrasse. You do not need to clean the fish before you start filleting. First you make a deep and long cut from the neck to the ventral fin.

Then you take a firm grip on the fishtail and start to move the knife forward, towards the first cut. This will give you a nice fillet with no bones.

When removing the skin you may use a pincer to get a firm grip on the skin. Let the knife blade point a bit downwards while you “saw” off the skin.

It helps if you make sideways moves with the pincer; pulling the fillet slowly towards you. Let the knife do the job. Then turn the fish around and repeat. That’s all!

Tags: , ballan wrasse, filleting ballan wrasse, filleting wrasse, wrasse

After a long winter and a lot of bad weather I finally got the chance to use my boat. Here is a kind of fishing report:

The sun shone, the wind was calm and I went home from work early. This day I wanted to use what I call “mini long lines”, which are short long lines. I use three lines with 10-12 hooks on each line, and mackerel is used as bait. The plan was to fish for turbot and dabs on sand bottom (20 meters depth). When I hauled the first line I saw a bright shadow coming up from the deep. It was too big and dark to be a dab so I hoped for a turbot.

I used a landing net to get the fish on board. No, it was not a turbot. It was a small halibut.

Halibut is not the most common species in the southern part of Norway, and some people prefer to release (and tag) halibut caught on long lines.

Hauling the lines is always exciting. With the line in my hand I can feel the movements when a fish has taken the bait. On the next line I got a cod. The hook fell out of its mouth the moment I got it in my landing net.

When I got my second halibut, I almost felt as if I was doing something illegal. It is impossible to release them as long as they swallow the hook. The third halibut was very small, and it had not managed to swallow the bait. I just had to take a photo of it before I let it go.

I then gave up fishing for turbot, and I moved to an area where dabs are more common. I got two dabs before I went home. This was really a perfect day. I hope that my catch of young halibuts indicates that there are some recruitment to the stock. Regarding the turbot - I will not give up.

Tags: fishing halibut, fishing trip, long line