Age-old tuna fishing begins
Source: Agencies |
May 3, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE season for an ancient and spectacular tuna-fishing technique has begun off Spain's southwest coast amid fears it could disappear because fleets of factory ships in international waters are overfishing stocks.
In this method called "almadraba" in Spanish, fishermen have stretched maze-like nets from sandy beaches to catch Atlantic bluefin tuna since a time when Phoenician traders sailed to these shores 1,000 years before the birth of Christ.
This laborious harvest, which includes lifting nets heaving with fish onto ships, is timed to coincide with annual migrations by tuna from the Atlantic to lay eggs in warm Mediterranean waters.
The fish, some as large as 3 meters long and weighing more than 650 kilograms, are hoisted on to ships and, while hanging from their tails, are drained of blood by slitting their gills to concentrate flavor in their deep red flesh. The churning sea water below turns red with blood.
Today bluefin tuna are a prized delicacy in top Tokyo restaurants where a thin slice prepared as sushi can fetch 2,000 yen (US$24).
Most of the catch is flash frozen and flown to auction at the Japanese capital's vast Tsukiji market. One large specimen fetched a record 32.49 million yen, nearly US$396,000, in January.
These prices translate to about US$1,160 per kilogram, a tempting booty for fishermen equipped to chase down and land almost any amount of fish at sea.
The seemingly insatiable demand for Atlantic bluefins has led to a serious depletion of stocks by fishing ships using the latest technology, including advanced sonar and spotter planes, to follow shoals and catch as many tuna as they can, said Marta Crespo, a spokeswoman for a local association of "almadraba" fishermen.
She said one of the problems was that factory ships have been allowed to indiscriminately catch and sell tunas as small as 6.4 kilograms.
In this method called "almadraba" in Spanish, fishermen have stretched maze-like nets from sandy beaches to catch Atlantic bluefin tuna since a time when Phoenician traders sailed to these shores 1,000 years before the birth of Christ.
This laborious harvest, which includes lifting nets heaving with fish onto ships, is timed to coincide with annual migrations by tuna from the Atlantic to lay eggs in warm Mediterranean waters.
The fish, some as large as 3 meters long and weighing more than 650 kilograms, are hoisted on to ships and, while hanging from their tails, are drained of blood by slitting their gills to concentrate flavor in their deep red flesh. The churning sea water below turns red with blood.
Today bluefin tuna are a prized delicacy in top Tokyo restaurants where a thin slice prepared as sushi can fetch 2,000 yen (US$24).
Most of the catch is flash frozen and flown to auction at the Japanese capital's vast Tsukiji market. One large specimen fetched a record 32.49 million yen, nearly US$396,000, in January.
These prices translate to about US$1,160 per kilogram, a tempting booty for fishermen equipped to chase down and land almost any amount of fish at sea.
The seemingly insatiable demand for Atlantic bluefins has led to a serious depletion of stocks by fishing ships using the latest technology, including advanced sonar and spotter planes, to follow shoals and catch as many tuna as they can, said Marta Crespo, a spokeswoman for a local association of "almadraba" fishermen.
She said one of the problems was that factory ships have been allowed to indiscriminately catch and sell tunas as small as 6.4 kilograms.
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