Table 10. Number and weight orblucfin tuna caught in traps dlTSicilv ami Saniinia by ycai as reported bv the Institute 

 Centralc di Statistica. 



southwestern Sardinia did not pro- 

 duce especially large fish m this later 

 period 



Sara ( 1 965c, 1 968) discussed the 

 historical importance of the smaller 

 bluefin (40-50 kg, ages 5-6) locally 

 known as "golfitani" (Celti 1777) in 

 the Italian trap fisheries In the years 

 before 1920, when the fisheries were 

 flourishing, these smaller fish formed 

 a large percentage of the captures. 



sometimes as high as 90% When the 

 catches of large tuna were poor, as 

 they often were, substantial catches 

 of golfitani kept the fishciA solvent 

 About 1925, the catches of these fish 

 began to decrease gradually until they 

 virtually ceased about 1935 This 

 caused a real crisis in the indusliy In 

 1943-1945 (the first post-war years) 

 there was a transitoi"\' appearance of 

 golfitani possibly because of the de- 



crease in fishing effort during the 

 war hi 1964, these fish appeared 

 again in the catches, increasing year 

 bv year Sara thought that this occur- 

 rence was not transitoiy, because of 

 the local nbundance of heiring, an- 

 cho\ ics and mackerel, on which they 

 fed. Consequently he believed that 

 the future of the trap fishery was 

 good. Sara (personal communication, 

 1973), however, reported that the 



56 



