1937, 1938) data for individual Tu- 

 nisian traps showed that those on the 

 north coast (Cap Zebib, Sidi Daoud, 

 Ras el Ahmar and El Aouaria) caught 

 larger fish than those on the east coast 

 (Monastir, Kuriat, Conigliera, and 

 Bordj Kadidja). Yearly average 

 weights for the western traps varied 

 from 42 to 246 kg, whereas those for 

 the east coast traps ranged from 47 to 

 62 kg. Posters (1956) data for 1955 

 catches showed the same trend: 125 

 and 115 kg for Sidi Daoud and El 

 Aouaria, respectively, and 52 kg for 

 Kuriat. 



Sella (1912a) reported that there 

 were quantities of bluefin tuna along 

 the Lib_\an coast, and the installation 

 of traps began in 1914 (Parona 1919, 

 Ninni 1921b). Data are available for 

 the catches in Tripolitania (western 

 Libya) in 1915, 1919-1936, 1939, 

 1951, 1955, 1959, 1972, and 1973, 

 but not all on a comparable basis. 

 The most complete data are for 1 92 1 - 

 34 (Anonymous 1928a, 1929a, 

 1932a, 1934a, 1934b, 1935a, 1935b, 

 1936). In 1915 and 1919-20 from 

 one to three traps were set each year, 

 and annual catches ranged from 1 , 1 60 

 to 6,206 fish per trap. In 1921-34, 

 from six to 13 traps were set each 

 year, and annual catches varied from 

 285 to 1 ,200 tons per year, consist- 

 ing of from 547 to 2,067 fish per trap 

 with average weights of from 56 to 

 1 10 kg per fish. In 1935, 1936 and 

 1939 from seven to 10 traps fished 

 each year and took from 1,133 to 

 1 ,737 fish per trap year. The average 

 weight of the fish caught in 1 936 was 

 75 kg. Catches totalled 1 , 1 20 tons in 

 1951 (Anonymous 1952), 6,403 fish 

 averaging 86 kg in 1955 (Postel 

 1962), and 1,950 tons in 1959 

 (Anonymous 1960). Recent landings 

 have been considerably smaller, with 

 four traps taking 1,550 fish in 1972, 

 and three taking 2,360 in 1973 (R. 

 Sara, personal communication). The 

 total yearly bluefin tuna catches of 

 Libya for 1964-1974 varied between 

 300 and 2,000 tons (Miyake et al. 

 1976), with the largest catches oc- 

 curring in 1968 and 1969. 



The Tripolitanian traps fished the 

 "arrival" run only, although evidence 

 of a potential "return" fishery has 

 been noted (Anonymous 1932). First 

 catches for 1927, 1928, and 1931 



occurred between May 29 and June 

 23 (Anonymous !928a^ 1929a, 1932). 

 Belloc (1961) reported that the fish- 

 ing began at the end of May, peaked 

 in the first half of July and ended 

 during the last half of July. Sara 

 (1964) stated that the Libyan traps 

 fished about 15 days later than those 

 of Sicily, Sardinia and Tunisia. In 

 1964, the fishery extended from the 

 22nd to the 26th week (about May 

 25-June 23) (Hamre et al. 1966). 



The only size sample available 

 for the Libyan fishery is for the 1964 

 catches (Figure 60). About three- 

 quarters of the fish were in the "me- 

 dium" category, with the remainder 

 in the "large" group. 



Except for an ephemeral attempt 

 near Tobruk (Sella 1932a), the east- 

 ernmost tuna trap which fished 

 spawning bluefin in the Mediterra- 

 nean was at EI Mongar near Bengasi 

 in Cyrenaica, Libya. Information on 

 this trap is meager. In 1924-27, it 

 took from 1 ,039 to 3,286 bluefin tuna 

 per year (Anonymous 1928b). The 

 latter figure, attained in 1927, was 

 reportedly the highest for any trap in 

 the Mediterranean in that year. In 

 1928, only 197 tuna were taken 

 (Anonymous 1929b). Catches of from 

 1 12 to 436 tuna per year are listed for 

 Bengasi or Cyrenaica for 1930-33 

 (Anonymous 1932a, 1934a). 



In 1 927, the first and last bluefin 

 catches at El Mongar were on May 

 31 and July 18, respectively (Anony- 

 mous 1928b), and in 1928, on June 

 26 and July 14 (Anonymous 1929b). 

 The latter season was regarded as 

 unusually late in starting. 



No quantitative data arc avail- 

 able on the sizes of the fish taken, but 

 Sella (1932a) stated that they were 

 small or medium size, and that their 

 gonads were ripe. Anonymous 

 ( 1 929b) reported that the tuna caught 

 in 1928 were very small. 



Because of the irregularity of its 

 catches and the small size of the fish 

 taken, Sella (1932a) did not regard 

 El Mongar as a true "arrival" trap. 

 Since it did not catch large spent fish, 

 he also felt that it did not qualify as a 

 "return" trap. It appears to have been 

 abandoned soon after this information 

 was published. He pointed out that 

 this trap was east of the 38 o/oo 

 isohaline, which he regarded as the 



upper limit of salinity for large "ar- 

 rival" (maturing) bluefin. He added 

 that, had he known what he then did 

 about the sensitivity of maturing blue- 

 fin to salinity, he would not have 

 attempted to establish a trap east of 

 El Mongar (in water of higher salin- 

 ity) near Tobruk. 



c. Eastern Mediterranean and 

 Black Sea 



Bluefin tuna are extensively dis- 

 tributed over the eastern Mediterra- 

 nean (Figure 52), except its south- 

 east corner, but the only fisheries of 

 any importance are those of Greece 

 and Turkey. Annual catches reported 

 for Greece since 1952 have ranged 

 from less than a ton to 1,220 tons, 

 and those for Turkey since 1 957 from 

 less than a ton to over 1,500 tons. 

 Catches in Greece since 1968 and in 

 Turkey since 1970 have been negli- 

 gible (Hamre etal. 1966. Miyake and 

 Manning 1975. Miyake and Tibbo 

 1972). 



Eleven traps were active in 

 Greece in the period 1954-1958 

 (Belloc 1961). The maximum annual 

 catch (all species) per trap was 21 

 tons; few catches exceeded 10 tons 

 and many were less than one ton. All 

 of the traps were located on the 

 Aegean (eastern) coast of Greece 

 (Figure 61). with al I but two on the 

 Peleponnesus. Ninni (1922) quoted 

 Vinciguerra (1 896) to the effect that 

 the only bluefin tuna fisheries in the 

 Aegean were at Melina in the Gulf of 

 Volos and Gialtra on the island of 

 Euboea. Ninni concluded that in 

 spring bluefin tuna migrated north- 

 ward in two groups through the 

 Aegean from a wintering area around 

 Crete. The major group skirted the 

 coasts of Asia Minor and the adja- 

 cent islands and a smaller one tra- 

 versed the channel between Euboea 

 and the mainland to enter the Gulf of 

 Volos. Athanassopoulos(l923, 1924, 

 1926) considered the bluefin to be a 

 rare fish in Grecian waters, particu- 

 larly off its western (Ionian Sea) 

 coast. Oren et al. (1959) reported 

 trolling catches of very small (45-53 

 cm total length) bluefin tuna in sev- 

 eral parts of the Aegean during an 

 exploratory fishing cruise Septem- 

 ber-December 1952. 



63 



