AND THE FISH THEREOF. 65 



of Smarts), which belong to the "offal" class of fish, being only consumed by 

 the poor. In May, June, July, they engage in the pilchard fisheries off 

 Sansego, which are often very important. 



The local fishermen compete in fishing the " prime " fishes, the excess of 

 which is sent to Pola and Trieste. The Italian boats contribute one-eighth 

 of the supply of fish which is sold on the spot. 



Tunny fisheries {Tonnare) at Preluca 1 (district Volosca, Istria), at the 

 northernmost head of the Gulf of Fiume, and at Castelmuschio, on the island 

 of Veglia (the former communal, the latter private). 



Fiume and the Hungarian-Croatian Littoral. — The principal summer 

 fisheries comprise the tunny, mackerel, pelamid, pilchard, and whiting, and are 

 carried on chiefly by the native fishermen (called Kirzi or Ghirzi), who are 

 of the poorest, their stock-in-trade being of the most primitive kind. 



The chief produce of the trawling-nets, which are worked by the 

 Chioggiotti all over the Gulf of Quarnero from September till May, is the 

 hake, whiting, poor (or capelan), most of the flat fish—chiefly the sole — 

 several rays and small sharks, the angler or fishing-frog, and last, not least, 

 the famous Scampo, or Norway lobster ; red and grey mullets, the basse, 

 and the cephalopods, such as the cuttle-fish, poulp, and squid, are common, 

 more or less, all the year round. The pilchard fisheries of Selce in the 

 Canale della Morlacca yield on an average 75 tons. 



Plate I. shows the situation of the fifteen Tonnare on the coast, the 

 number of nets belonging to each, their value, and the number of fisher- 

 men employed. The principal ones are those of Buccari, Buccarica, San 

 Giacomo, Voz, and Peschera, each of which has two or three nets ; the 

 remaining ten have only one net. The value of each net is 600 florins. 

 They are all farmed out for a period of five years to the same farmer 

 for 25,000 florins, say, 5,000 florins per annum, and he has to supply the fish 

 to the various Communes at a fixed rate, say, 25 soldi (fivepence) per kilo. 

 The season lasts from the middle of April to the end of September, and is 

 best in April and May, and in August and September. The weight of tunny - 



1 See Plate XII. 

 K 



