The “Mattanza” is a very old method of fishing tuna. Although because of the passing of time it lost many ancient features, it still has a very fascinating ritual. The last Mattanza was made in 2008 and from this year the tuna fishermen (Tonnaroti) haven’t set the “tonnara” any more.
Why they stopped to do the Mattanza?
The reasons are more than one. First of all, because animals rights activits considered it too bloody. The other main reason is that the number of tuna has fallen in the last 20 year too much. So fish the tuna in this way is very expensive and the fishermen don’t cover the costs.
Even if animals rights activits rehabiliteted in these last year this traditional ceremony of fishing, the other cause have no solution.
Why the number and the size of the red tuna has fallen? The reason is that there is a too much intensive and aggressive tuna fishing. Today the flocks of tuna are intercepted with fishfinders and tuna flying nets before reaching the Mediterranean sea. With these systems, multinational fishing companies catch hundreds of tonnes of tuna every day… Result: The tuna is being extinguished.
I would like to share with you this very interesting tv documentary. The last “rais” (leader) of Tonnaroti describes the last Mattanza.
“Tonnara” of Favignana
