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| VERSIONE ITALIANA | ||||||||||||||||||
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| THE LAST TONNARA See also: Egadi Islands, the largest Italian sea reserve. In Sicilian last tonnare, the ancient mattanza rite, a traditional tuna-fishing technique, still exists. Every year at the end of springtime huge tuna migrate from the Atlantic ocean to the warmer Mediterranean waters. These fish can reach the weight of 400 kilos and they are captured and loaded on board of the boats (always one with no engine) using only the fishermen's arm strength. Colossal nets are hoisted by hand under the supervision of the Rais , the supreme chief, and the fishermen tune up ancient songs while the sea turns red with tuna's blood and is tossed by their last pangs of life. It is a remaining of an archaic world that is now difficult to understand; a world where tradition and religion, struggle for life and search of wealth, love and death were mixed up. This is undoubtely a cruel fishing techique, but an extremely selective one, and probably for this reason it is also much less detrimental to the environment than trawling or than spadare. Mattanza is the bloody final act of a preparation process which lasts for months and has remained unchanged for centuries: its origin goes so far back in time that it is lost. Even the traditional songs that are sung during fishing are so old that have become partially incoprehensible to the very fishermen. Tonnare are complex fixed-net systems a few kilometers long (and their plants for the fish processing). There were hundreds of them in the Mediterranean sea until the first half of the XX century, but now, due both to the diminishing number of tuna caused by pollution and intensive fishing, and the market laws that have made this fishing technique less and less cheap, there are only about ten tonnare left in the whole Mediterranean sea. Two of them still struggle to survive in Sicily: Bonagia's (not far from Trapani) and Favignana's. Although almost everything regarding this fishing technique and its instruments has remained unchanged from the Middle Ages up to today, one can't say the same about nowadays tonnare 's inner sense and importance and about their protagonists. What once was a means of exploitation of a rich fish patrimony, what was a technique handed down with pride and respect, and the surviving source of entire comunities - that seemed endless - has now turned into something different. It now mixes various aspects in contrast: touristic interest, obstinate will of keeping a tradition alive, make-shift jobs for unemployed and first temporary jobs for young people in a social context so poor of prospects. |
STORY DATA
Where: Bonagia and Favignana, Trapani (Italy) |
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