50 





40 



30 



I 



(O 20 



10 



N=NUMBER OF TRAPS 

 B CACHORRETAS < 30 KG 

 n ALBACORAS 30-49KG 



ATUARROS 50-89 KG 



ATUNS >90KG 



50 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 4J44%5 46 47 48 49 50 61 52 53 5495 56 57M 5^^ 



YEAR 



Figure 49 Annual catches of the Portuguese trap fishery (Hamre iind Ticws 1964, Hamrc ot al 1966, 1968, 1971) 



most concentrated off France and 

 what is now Yugoslavia (Pavesi 1889, 

 Parona 1919, Belloc 1961). 



The history of the Mediterranean 

 tuna U'aps dates to the pre-Chiistian 

 era. Thomazi (1947) believed that 

 the Phoenicians introduced this 

 method throughout their colonics, and 

 that some of the French traps had 

 probably operated continuously from 

 pre-Christian times until their demise 

 near the end of the 20th century He 

 thought that the Sicilian traps were 

 of equally early origin, but had fallen 

 into disuse during the Arab occupa- 

 tion The Normans revived the fish- 

 ery soon after their conquest ot' the 

 island toward the end of the 1 2th 

 century (Pavesi 1889, Parona 1919, 

 Thomazi 1947). The numbers of tuna 

 traps operating in the Mediterranean 

 declined greatly during the 19th niui 

 20th eenUiries (Pavesi 1 889, Parona 

 1919), and especially since 1950 (de 

 Cristofaro 1970). 



Until recently, the inaior tuna 

 traps in the central Mediterranean 

 have been of the "Sicilian" type 

 Since World War II. however, chang- 

 ing conditions ha\'e caused the aban- 

 donment of many traps and the con- 

 version of others to the "Spanish"' 

 type, usually with modifications 

 (Gaudilliere 1954, Fodera 1964, Sara 

 1964, de Cristofaro 1970). 



Various types of nets, hook and 

 line gears, and haipoons ha\e also 

 been used for bluefm tuna in many 

 parts of the Mediteiranean-Black Sea 

 system (Pavesi 1889, Parona 1919, 

 Doumenge 195."^, lyigungor 1957). 

 Until recently, however, their catches 

 were small in comparison with those 

 of the traps. 



Developments after World War 

 II have altered this situation drasti- 

 cally While the trap catches have 

 declined catastrophically (Sara 1973), 

 catches of small (I'ilic 1954, Scaccini 

 and Biancalana 1959, di Meglio 

 1962) and large (Paini 1975, Mivake 

 1 976) biuefin by purse seine ha\e 

 become important Also, Japanese 

 longliners took increasing quantities 

 of biuefin in the Mediterranean m 

 the \ears 1972-1974 The catch de- 

 clined in 1975, when the .hipanese 

 government prohibited their longline 

 vessels from fishing in the Mediter- 

 ranean during the spawning season 

 as a conser\'alion measure 



Meanwhile, promising sport fish- 

 eries for biuefin tuna ha\e developed 

 along the French and Spanish coasts 

 from the mouth of the Rhone to 

 Castellon and along the French and 

 Italian Rivieras (Ligurian Sea'), where 

 albacore arc also taken iCiianelli 

 1969, Cesarco 1972. M R. Horrell. 

 A. Cesarco, I. F. dc Gamboa. and H 

 K llarn-, personal comniunicalums') 



a. Western Mediterranean 



Although located between the 

 fonneriy important trap fisheries of 

 the Ibero-Moroccan Bay and the cen- 

 tral Mediterranean, the biuefin tuna 

 fisheries of the western Mediterra- 

 nean ha\'c produced modest tonnages 

 (Miyake et al. 1976). consisting 

 mainly of small and medium fish 

 Various gears have been used, some 

 of which are of ancient origin. Oth- 

 ers have been introduced recently. 

 Among the most ancient are the traps, 

 which were formerly wide-spread but 

 now survive in a few locations off 

 Spain and Africa only (Parona 1919, 

 Belloc 1961) Hook and line gears 

 and specialized nets have also been 

 in use since long ago Purse seine 

 and longline fishing have been intro- 

 duced in tlic area since World War II. 

 Sport fishing has also developed there 

 in this same period 



'I'he iTcnch traps are of histori- 

 cal interest only, Thomazi (1947) 

 slated that they reached their apogee 

 in the 17ih century Gouiret (1894) 

 reported those traps near Marseille 

 took biuefin tuna from late July to 

 late November, in 1851 there were 

 10 traps in the area, but in 1891 only 

 three were operating. Their catch of 

 biuefin in 1891 and 1892 (1,500- 

 2,000 fish, 41-4."! tons) was about 

 hall' of the total catch in the same 

 area bv other gears Parona (1919) 



48 



