The Mullet haul of Monfalcone

(from Il Piccolo, 6 November 2012). From the 1920s to the 1970s, the Panzano bay became the scene each December of a fishing bonanza, during which enormous quantities of mullet would be caught; nowadays, this species is not much sought-after but it used to be very popular. Some miraculous hauls were recorded, including a record one in 1953 that filled 24 railway wagons. This is how ichthyologist Sergio Paradisi described this ancient fishing tradition that has now been lost because of the changes to the environment in the waters of Monfalcone: “The early 1920s saw the rise of fishing mullet in the bay of Panzano, when the Triestine Faccanoni company won the contract to excavate a protected basin in the area and the fishermen of Monfalcone were granted the right to fish within this enclosed space, a new basin offering enormous potential, especially in winter, when fish would enter the basin searching for food and warmer water. This gave rise to the “trata” (or “haul”), the possibility of capturing enormous quantities of fish using a single net. This was not an operation that could be improvised, and in the early years the fishermen used to employ a fishing family from Koper (Capodistria as it was then), giving them 30% of the haul in return for the use of their equipment. In 1932, a company was founded to administer the right to fish. It had 44 founding members and was called the “Cooperativa fascista tra pescatori” (“the Fascist fishermen’s cooperative”). It eventually had a total of 150 members in the immediate post-war years. It was an ingenious bosun called Giuseppe Pescatori who was in charge of the first wholly “Monfalconese” hauls: he directed the making of a huge net, introduced the use of the “trattore”(literally “tractor”), a second seine net with two wings that would be laid within the first one.The December haul would always be preceded by a month of preparation: the basin would be sealed off at night, when there would be more fish within the area. In his article, Paradisi recalls that “it would take two or three hauls to cover the entire basin. After the net was cast, work would start on hauling it in (a task called “a segno de trator”): it could take up to six days to cinch the main net – to reduce the circumference sufficiently for it to be worthwhile casting the main net that would catch the fish at the end of the operation.” The boats used were called “batàne” and were flanked by three “bragozzi” purchased in Chioggia; both are local types of fishing smacks. The fish would be pulled inboard boat with a “voligòn”, a sort of large landing net. The hauls were colossal, and made easier after the war with the advent of engines. The total catch would be measured in railway wagons per year. Every December for half a century, the haul totalled some 180,000 kilos of fish. The record year was 1953, with 24 crammed railway wagons. The last catch was made in 1977 under the direction of Bruno Novacchi. No hauls are made any more, but the mullets are still there and every so often fill the basin and the head of the Canale Valentinis.”

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