(Collignon 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 

 1968, 1969, 1972, Lambocuf 1972, 

 Crespo and Rey 1976, M. R. Horrell, 

 personal communication) Little 

 information is available on the sizes 

 of bluefm taken. F. de Buen (1927) 

 stated that 4-5 kg bluefin were taken 

 in the Ceuta trap in early winter. 

 Rodriguez-Roda (1964b, 1969c) es- 

 timated that 500,000 age bluefin 

 were taken by the traps at Ceuta and 

 Mediterranean Morocco and the 

 Ceuta fishing fleet in September-Oc- 

 tober 1963, but stated that such ex- 

 tremely numerous catches of these 

 fish were exceptional. Crespo and 

 Rev (1976) showed that the catches 

 of age bluefin were much greater 

 numencally than all other sizes com- 

 bined in eight of the 14 seasons from 

 1961-1974, with significant highs in 

 1963, 1967 and 1973 Rey el al. 

 (1977) reported that 22 bluefin were 

 caught in the Ceuta trap in 1975 



Twenty of these were reportedly more 

 than 4 years old, and weighed 12,50(1 

 kg. Perhaps there is an enor in these 

 figures, as the average weight would 

 be 625 kg. 



We have little information on 

 the bluefin tuna trap fisheries of Al- 

 geria. Heldt (1932a) listed six traps 

 set in 1 930 and two in 1 93 1 , but with 

 little success in most instances. Belloc 

 (1961) named three in the vicinity of 

 Oran, and listed their individual 

 yearly catches for 1953-1958. The 

 largest such catch was 69 tons (all 

 species) and the average was about 

 30 tons (all species). 



Specialized nets used off the 

 French coast, and their catches, have 

 been described by du llamel de 

 Moneeau (1769-1782), Doumenge 

 (1953), di Meglio (1962) and 

 Farrugio ( 1 977). These included fixed 

 and drifting gill nets and beach and 

 pelagic multiboat seines, called 



n NUMBER OF FISH/10^ 

 ■ METRIC TONS/IO' 



r20 



-15 



-10 



Year 



Figure 51. Annual catches of norlheaslem Alhuilic fisheries I'oi large and 

 medium size bluefin tuna (Scandinavian and Noilli Sea seine and liiHik-and-line 

 fisheries and Ibero-Moroccan Hay trap lisheiy) in lens of thousands of li.sh and lu 

 thousands ol' ions 



"thonnancs" or "thonaires," 

 "eombriercs," "eourantilles." and 

 "scinches " In some cases the same 

 name was applied to \arious gears, 

 according to the locality. The name 

 "thonnaire" appears to have been used 

 for several types of gear 



Hook and line gears used off the 

 French coast were described or men- 

 tioned by du Hamel de Moneeau 

 (1769-1782), Doumenge (1953), di 

 Meglio (1962) and Farrugio (1977), 

 These included longlines, trolling 

 gear, poles, and sport gear. Dieuzeide 

 (1931) described handline fishing for 

 large and medium bluefin in the Bay 

 of Castiglione, Algeria Thomazi 

 (, I 947) and Dicuzeide (1 949) detailed 

 an interesting method of hook and 

 line tuna fishing utilizing small fishes, 

 which had gathered around a moored 

 branch of a tree, as live baits. They 

 reported that this method was used 

 off the Mediterranean coasts of Spain 

 and Morocco, as well as off Algeria 



Recreational fishing for bluefin 

 tuna has been de\eloped off the Medi- 

 terranean coasts of France and Spain. 

 Commercial fishermen have been 

 catching medium and giant bluefin 

 by trolling with rod and reel gear off 

 Port de Bouc, at the mouth of the 

 Rhone, since 1959. The season ex- 

 tends from late June into early No- 

 vember, Annual contests, in which 

 sport as well as commercial fisher- 

 men participate, have been held. In 

 one which took place August 27-31, 

 1 969, 1 5 boats landed 40 tuna with 

 an a\eragc weight of 105 kg, even 

 though the weather permitted fishing 

 on only two days. The largest bluefin 

 taken weighed 220 kg. The above 

 information is from Gianelli (1969) 

 Another French port where recrea- 

 tional fishing is developing is La 

 Grand Motte, on the Gulf of Lions, 

 where tuna up to 30-40 kg are taken 

 (Cesarei) 1972). Sport fislimgofi'the 

 French Riviera will be discussed in 

 the folkwing subsection 



Recreational fishing has also be- 

 come popular on the Spanish 

 Mediterranean coast at Rosas, near 

 the French frontier, and at Castellon 

 Catches at Rosas include small tuna 

 and giants of 150-180 kg (Cesareo 

 1972) Tuna tournaments are held 

 annuallv at Castellon in late August 

 and earh September Catches totaled 



50 



