1964 



50 - 



10 - 



-I — r— 1 — I — r— 

 123456789 10 + 



1965 



80 



-1 — I — I — r'l' — 

 1234 56789 tO + 



1967 



T— 1 — I — I — I — I — 

 1 23456789 10+ 



50 - 



1971 



1 234 56769 10 + 

 50 - — 19''2 



10 - 



80 r 



50 



10 - 



1 I I I T 

 123456789 10 + 



1973 



I I I r 



1 23456789 10 + 



80 r 



Figure 55. Estimated age composition of samples of bluefin tuna taken in France 

 in 1964-1965, 1967, and 1969-1975. 



100 tons (129-260 tons) for one of 

 them m the period 1896-1914. One 

 or two of these traps were set in each 

 of the years 1938-1939 and 1946- 

 1963 (Annuano Statistico Italiano). 

 Their annual catch per trap varied 

 from 25 to 1 ,329 fish, averaging from 

 16 to 65 kg each, or 0.4 to 75 tons. 

 The numbers of fish caught by the 

 more important traps in recent years 

 are compared with their average pro- 



duction in the years 1879-1883 in 

 Table 11. Pavcsi (1889) used the lat- 

 ter figures as a basis for classifying 

 the Italian traps in orders as shown in 

 Table 12 



The trap catches have been di- 

 minishing gradually over a long pe- 

 riod, but this decline became cata- 

 strophic m the 1970s. Pavcsi (1889) 

 reported the average annual catch of 

 these traps in the years 1879-1883, a 



good period, as 68,029 tuna, prob- 

 ably at least 6,000 tons. The catches 

 for 1894-1914 varied between 1,624 

 and 8,160 tons, with an average of 

 4,643 tons (Parona 1919). Roule 

 (1917a) showed that the Sicilian and 

 Sardinian traps took totals of from 

 2,342 to 5,329 tons per year m 1909- 

 1913. Sella (1927) listed the Sicilian 

 and Sardinian catches in 1926, in a 

 period which was then regarded as 

 disastrous, as 9,800 fish. 



The catches in 1938-1939 and 

 1 946- 1 969, while not approaching the 

 pre-World War I levels, were gener- 

 ally better than those of the crisis 

 period in the late 1920s and early 

 1930s. The catch did not decline in 

 proportion to number of traps fish- 

 ing, partly because the least efficient 

 traps dropped out, and the most pro- 

 ductive ones were improved (de 

 Cristofaro 1970). The catches dete- 

 riorated drastically after 1969. Fig- 

 ures for the Sicilian and Sardinian 

 traps for 1970-1975 provided by P. 

 Arena and R Sara (Miyake 1976) 

 and for the Sicilian traps in 1 976 (P. 

 Arena, personal communication), 

 which differ considerably from those 

 in the Annuano Statistico Italiano for 

 1970-1972, are shown in Table 13. 

 These data show considerably smaller 

 catches than those indicated in Table 

 10, especially in numbers offish for 

 1970-1972, and correspondingly 

 higher average weights in those years. 

 These figures indicate that the great- 

 est decline in the Italian trap fishery 

 was accompanied by a great increase 

 in the average weight of the fish 

 taken, just as it was in the Spanish 

 fishery. 



The failure of the Italian trap 

 fisheries (Table 12) has followed a 

 rather distinct geographical pattern, 

 moving from east to west. The first 

 order (Table 11) trap of Pizzo, the 

 last one set in the Gulf of Sant' 

 Hufemia (compartment of Calanzaro, 

 Calabria), was abandoned after 1963. 

 Another previously productive group 

 in the Gulf of Patti (compartment of 

 Messina, northeastern Sicily), virtu- 

 ally ceased operating after 1967. One 

 of them, San Giorgio, was set for the 

 last time in 1973, after nine years of 

 inactivity, but took only five fish (R. 

 Sara, personal communication). The 

 group of return traps off the east coast 



54 



