SCRS/2009/189

SCRS/2009/189
Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 65(3): 1004-1043 (2010)
THE EASTERN ATLANTIC BLUEFIN TUNA: ENTANGLED IN A
BIG MESS, POSSIBLY FAR FROM A CONSERVATION RED ALERT.
SOME COMMENTS AFTER THE PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
BLUEFIN TUNA IN CITES APPENDIX I
A. Di Natale1
SUMMARY
The eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) has been facing a difficult management
situation since more than one decade, after the start of tuna caging activities which induced a
sort of “gold rush” and a lot of additional problems in data collection. This was the major
issue, which caused the growing unreliability of the stock assessments carried out by the ICCAT
SCRS. These are only the last issues of a situation where partial and unreliable data, very
partial biological and ethological knowledge of this species, and very minor knowledge of the
effects of environmental changes on bluefin tuna biology and distribution, along with some
scientists reading only a part of the immense literature on bluefin tuna which are feeding a sort
of incredible game, where some economic interests are trying to push the free fishery (or,
towards the opposite, a closed fishery!) and NGOs are pushing for full protection of the species,
to prevent an hypothetical collapse. Herewith the author discusses the main issues, with the
objective of helping to bring the analysis on the status of this iconic species along a rail of
reality.
RÉSUMÉ
Le thon rouge de l’Atlantique est (Thunnus thynnus) est confronté à une gestion difficile depuis
plus d’une décennie, après le début des activités de mise en cage du thon, ce qui a engendré une
sorte de « ruée vers l’or » et une série de problèmes supplémentaires dans la collecte des
données. Cela représentait le problème principal et a donné lieu à une augmentation du
manque de fiabilité des évaluations des stocks réalisées par le SCRS de l’ICCAT. Il s’agit
uniquement des derniers problèmes d’une situation dans laquelle des données partielles et non
fiables, des connaissances biologiques et éthologiques très limitées sur cette espèce ainsi que
des connaissances très restreintes des effets des changements environnementaux sur la biologie
et la distribution du thon rouge, ainsi que le fait que certains scientifiques ne lisent seulement
qu’une partie de l’immense quantité de publications sur le thon rouge et alimentent une sorte
d’enchère insurmontable, au sein de laquelle certains intérêts économiques tentent
d’encourager la pêcherie libre (ou, au contraire, la fermeture de la pêche) et les ONG
réclament la protection complète de l’espèce afin d’empêcher une extinction hypothétique.
L’auteur aborde dans le présent document les points principaux, afin de contribuer à placer
l’analyse de la situation de cette espèce emblématique dans un contexte réel.
RESUMEN
El atún rojo del Atlántico este (Thunnus thynnus) se enfrenta a una situación difícil en lo
que concierne a su ordenación desde hace más de una década, tras el inicio de las
actividades de introducción en jaulas que generaron una especie de “fiebre del oro”, y de
una serie de problemas adicionales en lo que concierne a la recopilación de datos. Este
ha sido el problema principal que ha generado una creciente falta de fiabilidad en las
evaluaciones de stock realizadas por el SCRS de ICCAT. Estos son sólo los últimos
problemas en una situación en la que datos parciales y no fiables y un conocimiento
etológico y biológico muy parcial de esta especie, así como un conocimiento muy pequeño
de los efectos de los cambios medioambientales en la distribución y biología del atún
rojo, combinados con el hecho de que algunos científicos lean sólo una parte de la
ingente bibliografía existente sobre el atún rojo, están alimentando una especie de juego
increíble en el que algunos intereses económicos intentan fomentar la pesquería libre (o,
1
Aquastudio Research Institute, Via Trapani 6, 98121 Messina, Italy.
1004
por el contrario, una cierre de la pesquería), y las ONG intentan conseguir una
protección plena de la especie, para evitar un hipotético colapso. En este documento el
autor debate los principales problemas, con el objetivo de contribuir a acercar a la
realidad el análisis del estado de esta especie icónica.
KEYWORDS
Bluefin tuna, conservation, CITES, ICCAT, population structure,
catch composition, data collection, pelagic fisheries, large pelagic species, overfishing
1. Foreword
This paper is not a traditional scientific paper. It is mostly a sort of independent short revision of a huge and even
largely incomplete amount of scientific papers, ICCAT reports and various types of documents about the
situation of the most important species managed by ICCAT, the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linnaeus) which
rapidly became an icon for many environmental organisations and the media and big business for some
commercial entities.
This paper is mainly a desperate attempt to bring the discussion on the bluefin tuna along a rail of reality, taking
into account the many problems about the controversial status of this species, the data issues and the general
knowledge, as well as the impact of various assessments and papers on the actual situation.
2. Introduction
According to archaeological findings, bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linnaeus, 1758) was first exploited in the
Mediterranean Sea more than 11200 years ago. The first document known on the bluefin tuna fishery is engraved
on the walls of the Genovese’s Cave on the isle of Levanzo (Egadi Islands, W. Sicily, Italy), dated about 9,200
years B.C. It is clear that since these remote times, bluefin tuna was regularly a common food resource for the
Mediterranean inhabitants and a basic component in their diet (Curtis, 1991; Dumont, 1981; Powell, 1996). Later
images, like the “Siciliota” pottery from the IV century B.C. kept at the Mandralisca Museum in Cefalù (Sicily,
Italy), show a common trade of bluefin tuna that was marketed fresh at that time.
Evidences of tuna factories were found in many places along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea (Purpura, 1989,
1992; Trousset, 1990) and even inland, like in the Roman ruins in Madrid. The history of the long exploitation of
the bluefin tuna is strictly linked to the Mediterranean culture and several tracks can be easily found in many
classical works from the II century B.C. to the II century A.D. (see the reprinted works by Plinius, 1553; Esopo,
1592; Aristotelis in Athaeneus, 1653; Athaeneus, 1653; Parthenii, 1689; Oppianus, 1738), but including also
Strabonium, Eschilus, Homerus, Solinus and Eustazius. Relatively more recent transcriptions about ancient and
historical information can be found also in Mattioli (1568), Gesner (1606), Aldrovandi (1638) and Jonstonius
(1649), while Curtis (1988), Merino (1991), Ponsich & Tarradell (1965) and Sancho de Sopranis (1948) provide
a detailed description of some ancient practices.
A careful reading of these classical works reveals not only the long fishing activities, but also many interesting
aspects of bluefin tuna biology and ethology, which are often forgotten and sometimes rediscovered ex-novo by
several young colleagues. The most interesting information is related to the periodic migrations between the
Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Plinius, 1553; Aristotelis in Athaeneus, 1653), confirming the
existence of a possible subpopulation in the Black Sea until recent times and the environmental collapse that
occurred in this Sea, discussed in a following part of this document.
The biology of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linnaeus, 1758) and particularly of the Atlantic populations is
that of a marine top predator having a long natural history. Many aspects of its biology and stock composition
are well known (Abascal et al., 2003; Arena, 1990b, Arena et al., 1980; Aricò & Genovese, 1953; Bard & Le
Gall, 1979; Bard et al., 1978; Block et al., 1978; Carey, 1973; Collette et al., 2001; Corriero et al., 2003, 2005;
Cort, 1990, 2010 in press; Cort et al., 1995, 2009; De Buen, 1925); De la Serna et al., 1998; De Metrio et al.,
1988, 1997, 2003a, 2003b; Dicenta & Piccinetti, 1977, 1980; Dicenta et al., 1975; Di Natale, 1988b, 1989,
1005
2004b, 2007; Di Natale et al., 2003, 2005b, 2006b, 2006c; Duclerc et al., 1973, 1974; Farrugio, 1980, 1981;
Frade, 1925; Ely et al., 2002; Fournestin & Dardignac, 1962; Fromentin, 2002a; Fromentin et al., 2000; Garcia
et al., 2003a, 2003b, 2005; Garibaldi F., 2004; Genovese, 1953a, 1956a, 1956b, 1958, 1960; Gordoa et al., 2009;
Heldt, 1927, 1932; Karakulak et al., 2004a, 2004b; Lalami et al., 1973; Lanteri, 2007; Liorzou & Bigot, 1995;
Liorzou et al., 2001; Mather et al., 1974, 1995; Morovic, 1961; Oray et al., 2005; Oray & Karakulak, 2005; Orsi
Relini, in press; Orsi Relini et al., 1994, 1995°, 1995b, 1997, 1998, 1999a, 1999b, 2007; Ottolenghi & Cerasi,
2008; Piccinetti, 1973, 1995; Piccinetti et al., 1977, 1981, 1995, 1999; Piccinetti & Piccinetti Manfrin, 1979,
1980; Piccinetti-Manfrin, 1970, 1994; Relini et al., 1995; Richards, 1976; Rivas, 1978; Rodriguez-Roda, 1964;
1967, 1969c, 1975; Roule, 1913, 1914a, 1914b, 1916a, 1916b, 1917a, 1917b, 1917c, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1923,
1925; Safina, 2001; Sanz Brau, 1990; Sanzo, 1909, 1910, 1932; Sarà, 1973; Scaccini, 1953, 1963, 1966, 1968;
Scaccini et al., 1975; Scordia, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934a, 1934c, 1935b, 1936a, 1937a, 1937b, 1938b, 1939a;
Sella, 1924, 1929b, 1932; Spagnolio, 1938), while many others are still unknown. The recent genetic studies
sometimes provides useful pieces of the biological puzzle of this species, while some others are putting new
questions (Alvarado Bremer et al., 2005; Broughton & Gold, 1997; Cimmaruta et al., 1999; Carlsson et al.,
2004; Clark et al., 2004; Ely et al., 2002; Ferrara et al., in press; Landi et al., 2007; McDowell et al., 2002;
Riccioni et al., in press; Tagaki et al., 1999; Vella, 2009). At the same time, this species is considered a good
ecological indicator, a mirror of the different concentrations of pollutants (Corsolini et al., 1999; Licata et al.,
2005; Orsi Relini et al., 2007)
The fishery of the bluefin tuna is also a part of the story of the human bean: besides the tuna traps, that are
discussed later in detail, the fishery was always a mirror of the advanced technologies, starting from simple hand
lines to the modern and sophisticated tuna purse seiners (Arena, 1982d, 1986b, 1990a, 1990c; Arena et al., 1980;
Arena & Di Natale, 1987; Bard & Le Gall, 1979; Bellón Uriarte, 1926; Berthelot, 1868; Cau, 1991, 1996; Cau et
al., 1999; Cavallaro et al., 1996; D’Amanich, 1954; De La Blanchère, 1868; De la Serna et al., 1998; Desse &
Desse-Berset, 1994; De Stefano, 2006; Dieuzeide, 1931; De Metrio et al., 1999; Di Natale, 1988a, 1988c, 1990,
1991, 1996, 1999; Di Natale et al., 1987, 1988a, 1988b, 1989, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2004; 2005a, 2005b, 2006a; Di
Natale & Mangano, 2008; Doumenge, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1998; Duhamel de Monceaus, 1769-1782; Duviard,
1992; Farrugio, 1978, 1980, 1981; Ferrandis Ballester et al., 1997; Ferraro, 1986; Fromentin, 2002, 2003;
Gordoa et al., 2004; Heldt, 1932; La Marhadour, 1914; Liorzou & Bigot, 1991; Liorzou et al., 2001; Mackenzie
& Mayers, 2007; Mackenzie et al., 2009; Mielgo Bregazzi, 2006, 2008, 2009; Ninni, 1917, 1921a; Northridge et
al., 1991; Oren & Ben Tuvia, 1954, 1959; Orsi Relini et al., 1993, 1996; Ottolenghi & Cerasi, 2008; Parona,
1919; Pommereau, 1955; Pavesi, 1889; Piccinetti, 1980; Piccinetti & Farrugio, 1980; Piccinetti & Piccinetti
Manfrin, 1999; Potoschi & Sturiale, 1999; Rodriguez Santamaria, 1923; Roule, 1914a, 1914b, 1916a, 1921;
1924; 1925; Sañez Reguart, 1781; Sarà, 1963; Scaccini, 1951, 1953, 1965, 1973; Scaccini & Biancalana, 1959;
Scordia, 1934b, 1936b, 1940a; Sella, 1929b; Sion et al., 1999; Susca et al., 2001).
The recent adoption of the caging system in the Mediterranean to increase the added value of the fattened tuna
on the market can be tracked in the papers by De Stefano & Van Der Heijden (2007), D’Amico & La Via
(2007); Di Trapani (2008); Doumenge (1999), Katavic et al. (2003), Lioka et al., 2000, Mielgo Bregazzi (2006,
2008, 2009), Miyake et al. (2003), Ottolenghi & Cerasi (2008) Piccinetti (1980) and Repetto et al. (2001).
The story of the bluefin tuna fishery also shows large temporal holes over the centuries, maybe because it was a
common activity and possibly the literature was mostly dealing with more elegant issues. It is also true that the
same holes exist in several natural history areas.
According to what Aristotelis (in Athaeneus, 1653) said, “thynnum esse tradit gregalem ac locum mutare”, this
species is a very migrant one, able to cross the ocean in a short time, and to carefully read the chemical and
physical messages from the sea waters. The bluefin tuna migrations are huge and only partly known even today.
Big changes in the distribution pattern have been reported so far, but most of them are known in the last century
(Aloncle, 1964; Arena, 1971; Brill, 1994; Brill & Lutcavage, 2001; Cort & Liorzou, 1991, 1995; Cort & De la
Serna, 1994; Cort & Rey, 1983; De Metrio, 2005; De Metrio et al., 2001; Fromentin, 2002b; Genovese, 1959;
ICCAT, 2009; Lozano Cabo, 1959a, 1959b; Mather 1962a, 1962b; Mather et al., 1967, 1974, 1995; Naccari,
1872; Ninni, 1922; Pavesi, 1887; Rey, 1979, 1992, 1999; Rivas, 1976; Rodríguez-Marín et al., 2009; RodriguezRoda, 1959, 1969b, 1980a, 1983; Rooker et al., 2007; Roule, 1924b; Sarà, 1963, 1964; Scordia, 1938, 1939a,
1940b; Sella, 1926a, 1926b, 1927, 1929, 1930,1931, 1932).
It is very difficult to track the story of this fishery through the centuries until the 16th century, because the
information is scattered in poems, literature, romances and commercial notes. Only from 1500 onwards is it
possible to find some good reports and even figures and engravings, beginning from Braun & Ogenberg (15721617), which help us to better understand how the exploitation was developed in the last 500 years.
1006
But it is not the case to re-write this long story, because it is written and well described in many papers, here
included in the bibliography, which anyway is largely incomplete2; for further old references, see the import and
review made by Corwin (1930). But it is important to bear in mind some important steps of the bluefin tuna
fishery over the centuries and particularly in the most recent times, trying to better understand the actual
situation.
At the same time, it is important to point out the incoherencies and the gaps in our current knowledge, with the
purpose to address the various issues in the proper way.
3. The trap fishery
The tuna trap fishery was apparently initiated by Phoenicia (Aubet, 1987, Bacci, 1982, 1984, Basile, 1992; Ben
Lazreg et al., 1995) and then continued by the Romans and the Arabs, and all the following people inhabiting the
Mediterranean coasts, the adjacent areas in the Strait of Bosphorus and the South Spanish and South Portuguese
coasts in the Atlantic Ocean (Bresc, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1987).
It is not clear to understand with which gear this fishery was carried out in ancient times. According to some
early engravings at the end of the 16th century (Braun & Hogenberg, 1572-1617), it is sure that tuna traps were
using not only set trap nets, but also huge beach seines, sometimes of various types. This is something not
commonly known, having a great relevance to better understand the distribution of tuna schools, which were
clearly very close to the coast at that time.
Later on and particularly in the 18th century, there are not many tracks of these beach seines, while the set tuna
traps have a lot of detailed information and many drawings and engravings tell us a lot of details (Cetti, 1777;
Doneddu, 1983; Duhamel de Monceau, 1769-1782; Gaetani, 1797; Gaetani di Villabianca, 1795; Mongitore,
1743; Pugnatore, 1595; Sañez Reguart, 1781; Sarmiento, 1757; Valle, 1800). On the contrary, the information
about the distribution of tuna traps along the coasts is very incomplete and only in a few areas there is a good list
of the tuna traps active at that time.
Several tuna traps were used also to catch small tuna species together with the bluefin tuna (Mouton, 2004;
Cattaneo Vietti & Bava, 2009), and this fact caused some confusion in the past to properly understand the
number of traps effectively targeting only bluefin tuna.
At the end of the 19th century there are good maps available and then there is the possibility to better understand
how and where the bluefin tuna issues were carried out at that time, mostly by using the maps provided by
Pavesi (1899) and Parona (1919).
Many other scientific works report data on the tuna trap fishery (Abid & Idrissi, 2009; Alliata, 1951; Angotsi,
1901, 1927; Anonimous, 1952; Arena, 1963, 1985, 1986a; Arena & Li Greci, 1970; Avolio, 1805; Belloc, 1961;
Consolo, 1986; Costanza, 2000; D’Amico, 1816; Dean et al., 2003; De Cristofaro, 1970; De Miranda y Riveras,
1927; De Salas & García Solá, 1876; Di Natale, 1988a, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2008; Di Natale et al., 2006a; Di
Natale & Notarbartolo di Sciara, 1994; Doumenge, 1998; Fernandez Gómez, 2007; Ganiage, 1960; Genovese,
1952, 1953b, 1960; Gordillo Acosta, 1984; Guaiana, 2000; Guggino, 1977; Guggino et al., 1977; Italiano, 2006;
Lemos & Gomes, 2004; Li Greci et al., 1991; Lippi Guidi, 1993; Lo Coco, 2006; Lo Curzio & Sisci, 1991;
Maggio, 2000; Manetti, 2001; Mariotti, 2003; Martelli, 1926: Mert et al., 2000; Militello, 1937; Mondardini,
1999; Ninni, 1921b, Piccinetti & Omiccioli, 1999; Ravazza, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005; Ravier-Mailly,
2003; Rodríguez-Roda, 1964, 1966a, 1966b, 1967, 1969a, 1970a, 1970b, 1977, 1980b; Roule, 1921, 1926;
Rubino, 1995; Sarà, 1983, 1988; Scaccini, 1965; Scaccini & Pagnanella, 1965a, 1965b; Scordia, 1925, 1930,
1931, 1933, 1934a, 1936c, 1937c, 1939b; Sechi, 1918; Sole, 1965; Silvestri, 2003; Volpi Lisjiak, 1996).
Table 1 shows in very clearly that the number of tuna traps was very important in the Mediterranean and in the
adjacent areas and, at the same time, that the number of traps in each country varied considerably in the short
period taken into account by Pavesi (1899) and Parona (1919).
2
The author apologises for any omissions in the bibliography, due to time constrains that prevented a more in-depth analysis of the numerous
scientific papers presented to the ICCAT SCRS in the last decades, which have nonetheless been considered in the text. The literature
included in this text is mostly dedicated to papers that are often forgotten or other relevant scientific works. Any omission is not by deliberate
will.
1007
How these variations can be interpreted is not easy. In some cases there was an export of know-how from some
countries to others, in other cases they were possibly caused by a different availability of the bluefin tuna in
some coastal areas, either in a positive or negative sense.
Due to the fact that tuna farms were real industries, the economic factors could be also a part of these changes
over time, but a much more in-depth and specific analysis is necessary to better and more properly explore the
data, while detailed information is not available for most of the factories and it is often preserved in hand-written
old logbooks, sitting in unknown places or archives (in some cases, these archives are in local churches, because
there was the tradition to provide a quota of the income to the local church, as a sign of devotion). In other cases,
economic information can be found in official publications dealing with annual permits or annual catch reports.
At the same time, it is important to note the stability reported in Malta, possibly as the result of no relevant
changes in this key area in the central Mediterranean Sea, and in Turkey, where the number of the many tuna
traps was stable over these 20 years. This last situation is particularly relevant, because it is strictly related to the
migration of bluefin tuna from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea and vice versa, a situation which had completely
changed in the last part of the 20th century (Devedian, 1926; Iyigungor, 1957; Karakulak, 2000; Mert et al.,
2000; Sarà, 1963). At the same time, the relevant number of Turkish traps at the beginning of the 20th century
confirms the massive presence of bluefin tuna in this extreme Eastern Mediterranean area, supporting the
economy of 26 factories.
Tuna traps were often very concentrated in some coastal areas, where the passage of bluefin tuna was more
abundant or common and the map provided by Parona (1919) is able to give a clear overview of the distribution
of tuna traps along the coasts (see Figures 4a and 4b).
From the maps provided both by Pavesi (1889) and Parona (1919), it is very clear that the areas having the
highest concentration of tuna traps were those in the central Mediterranean Sea, with other peaks at the two
geographic extremes, close to the Strait of Gibraltar and the Strait of Bosphorus.
The tuna trap fishery, according to Avolio (1805), was carried out in the Mediterranean from March to June in
the 18th century. This period is slightly different from the actual one, which is usually from May to June. The
fishing season is broader if the tuna traps located in the Atlantic are taken into account, because in this area the
fishery is carried out from April to August.
Actually, there are only a few traps still active and not all of them are fishing every year. Seventeen traps are
active in Morocco, all in the Atlantic (Abid & Idrissi, 2009) but with 7 new traps activated since 2007, five are in
Italy (only three, all located in Sardinia, were fishing in 2009), four are in Spain (all in the Atlantic) and one is in
Libya, while others in various places still have their nets and equipment but are no longer active.
The tuna trap fishery has very high cultural and socio-economic value and some countries had already officially
recognised it. The buildings forming the land structure of each tuna trap have very high historical and
architectural value, sometimes also recognised by the UNESCO. The huge staffs working in each tuna trap and
the Rais (the specialist in charge of heading and driving the fishing activities) are all highly specialised, and they
cannot be easily replaced and their knowledge is a patrimony to be preserved, as well as for the other aspects of
the tuna trap fishery.
The most important point that is necessary to discuss in this paper is why this fishing activity had so many
changes over time and in which way these can help in better understanding the current problems of the bluefin
tuna. It is sufficiently clear that several changes in the tuna trap fishery are strictly related to problems which are
far from the total abundance of the biomass in the area (Mediterranean and Atlantic together) and this can
provide arguments for our discussion.
The complexity of the various situations needs to restrict the analysis to a few points, which appear particularly
interesting: the lower availability of bluefin tuna along most of the coasts and the total disappearance of the
Turkish traps in the Bosphorus in the last quarter of the 20th century.
The first point is maybe the most difficult to examine, because it concerns mostly the alteration of the coastal
environment over time. The increasing number of new, large harbours in all countries, the incredible increment
in the inhabitants along the coast, the concentration of several production and industrial activities in coastal areas
and the modification of the quality and quantity of river inputs to the sea had progressively caused many changes
in the chemical and physical parameters of the sea water in coastal areas.
1008
Furthermore, the level of noise had incredibly increased, at first at the end of the 20th century, when engines were
largely introduced in merchant marine and military vessels, and after the 2nd World War when engines were also
commonly adopted by fishing vessels and leisure boats. It is difficult to specifically attribute values to each
single location, but there are several scientific evidences about the impact of anthropogenic activities on some
tuna traps (Addis et al., 2009; Di Gregori & Massoli-Novelli, 1992; Grassi, 1913; Mazzarelli, 1917).
This resulted in a decreasing availability of the bluefin tuna in various areas independent from the total
abundance of the stock. It is clear that bluefin tuna moved from coastal waters to more offshore waters (cleaner
and quieter) in several areas, but they continued to pass along the historic migration courses in some areas. These
facts will provide a different key to read the yields history in this fishing activity and possibly even in others.
The second point is one of the less considered when discussing the Mediterranean populations of bluefin tuna
within the larger East Atlantic stock: the issue of the Black Sea bluefin tuna sub-population. Since historical
times there are many evidences of massive movements of bluefin tuna from the Black Sea to the East
Mediterranean for spawning (Figure 5) and then again back to the Black Sea for wintering.
This sub-population was there for many centuries until the second part of the 20th century, when it suddenly
almost disappeared. Zaitsev and Mamaiev (1997) and Kideys (2004) show how fast the decrease of the
population occurred, until the disappearance of any catch of bluefin tuna in the Black Sea waters of Bulgaria
around 1971 (Figure 6). Karakulak and Oray (2009) show how purse seine catches moved from the area in the
Black Sea close to the Bosphorus to the eastern Mediterranean in the last decades.
The bluefin tuna finally disappeared completely from the Black Sea, even from Turkish waters close to the
Bosphorus, in 19883.
Even in this case, besides the opinion by Daskalov (2003), it seems that the abundance in the Black Sea area was
not related to a direct fishery, but was affected by several collapses in the Black Sea environment (partly related
to fishery issues), which apparently forced the remaining bluefin tuna population to move into the Mediterranean
Sea. There are no scientific studies about the further distribution of this sub-population in the Mediterranean, but
it is strongly suspected that these tunas remained mostly in the eastern part of the basin, because of their natural
history tradition and the quality of the water there. This fact can be part of the reason why the Turkish fishery
obtained such good results in the last part of the 20th century and why genetic studies reveal a difference between
east and west tuna subpopulations in the Mediterranean Sea (Carp, 1951; Devedjian, 1926, Iyigungor, 1957;
Karakulak, 1999, 2000, 2003; Karakulak & Oray, 2009; Kideys, 2004; Merty et al., 2000; Oray et al., 2005;
Piccinetti et al., 1995; Piccinetti-Manfrin et al., 1995; Sarà, 1963; Tekin, 2000; Zaitsev, 2003; Zaitsev &
Manaiev, 1997). This was also the possible motivation for closing the Turkish tuna trap activities in the Strait of
Bosphorus. Again, even in this case, it is clear that bluefin tuna abundance in the various areas was mostly
affected by environmental and behavioural factors other than direct fishery ones.
4. The behavioural aspects
Bluefin tuna is a well developed species and a marine top predator. The behaviour is a very important and
essential component of its life, even if we know only a few aspects of bluefin tuna behaviour.
Ancient papers provided much information about the apparent behaviour of this species, while several papers in
the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries improved our knowledge, because scientists were spending a lot of time at sea, or
in fishing areas, or collecting direct information from the fishermen. Only in the last part of the 20th century, by
using more modern technologies, it was possible to better study some behavioural and ethological aspects of
bluefin tuna, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea (Bridges at al., 2009; Block et al., 2001, 2005; De Metrio,
2004, 2005; De Metrio et al., 2001, 2003), even if several problems are still existing (Fromentin, 2002b).
Thanks to the experience obtained from the use of aerial spotting to better catch bluefin tuna with modern
Mediterranean purse seiners4, the distribution and composition of the various schools of bluefin tuna were
studied by aerial observations by Farrugio (1979), Arena (1980, 1981, 1982a, 1982b, 1982c) and Fromentin et
3
In recent times, with the partial improvement of the environmental situation in the Black Sea, bluefin tuna are slowly reappearing in that
basin. In 2007, in late November, a few specimens were caught in the Marmara Sea and in the nearest areas of the Black Sea. In the same
period, juveniles having a size (about 700 g) much smaller than the usual size at that time of the year were found on the market in Istanbul,
providing evidence of possible reproduction in areas having a temperature colder than in other Mediterranean areas.
4
Aerial spotting for fishing bluefin tuna has been banned in the Mediterranean since 2006.
1009
al. (2003). It was clear that the composition of each tuna school was correlated to a very precise strategy of the
bluefin tuna, particularly during the spawning period. In these years, the shape and composition of the various
groups of bluefin tuna were deeply analysed and revealed complexities not known before. From Figure 7
(Arena, 1982a) it is clear that the strategy adopted by each school in the genetic period was able to affect the size
frequencies in catches, but this fact is never taken into account when catch are analysed or used in VPA. Not all
schools are the same in size composition, even in the same area.
The aerial observations were checked with landing controls, having a direct and scientific confirmation of the
size frequencies reported by the observers. The fishermen’s choice is an important component of this fishery,
together with the school composition and those factors combined are able to strongly interfere with our
understanding of the size composition of the stock. This is particularly relevant also because purse seine catches
represent more than 80% of the East bluefin tuna catch.
The effects of climate changes or oceanographic anomalies on Atlantic bluefin tuna behaviour, particularly on
mass movements, have been known for years (Bonhommeau et al., 2010 in press; Di Natale, 2007; Fromentin
2002b; Fromentin et al., 2000; Lemos & Gomes, 2004; Mackenzie & Myers, 2007; Ravier-Mailly, 2003; Ravier
& Fromentin, 2001, 2004; Roule, 1921), but the recent mass movements of this species have not been studied so
far, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea.
The tuna schools showed a different composition after the great change noticed around 1996, when the major
concentration of bluefin tuna moved away from the major spawning area in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Figure
8) going to the South Mediterranean and also to the East Mediterranean. This situation, possibly linked to
oceanographic factors (Di Natale, 2007), was partly reverted since 2006, when several groups of spawners
returned again to the South Tyrrhenian Sea. In the meantime, according to the catch composition concerning
purse seine catches moved into cages, the schools were more mixed, with a higher presence of new spawners
(fish around year classes 3 to 4). In the new situation, the typical shapes of the tuna schools in the spawning
period as studied by Arena (1982) became less defined, even if the “caravan” and “cone” shapes were among the
most frequent. But, even in these cases, the size distribution within the schools was more mixed and less defined.
Shortening the fishing period induced fishermen to maximize the yields and not to make any choice among the
schools depending on size composition.
Recent papers (Bonhommeau et al., in press; Fromentin et al., 2003; Sorell Baron, in press) confirm the
relevance of the aerial surveys, either for understanding the behaviour or to try to assess the presence and
abundance of bluefin tuna in various Mediterranean areas, even if there is very scarce attention to previous
literature on this subject. These fishery- independent estimates could possibly correct some problems in the
current assessments and all the available evidence shows that the presence of bluefin tuna at sea is considerably
higher than the model estimated.
There are more issues concerning the behaviour, the ethology and the migrations of tuna which are very relevant
for a more general overview of the bluefin tuna situation.
Furthermore, the problems are much more complex that they appear, because bluefin tuna have the bad habit of
not respecting the various hypothesis suggested by scientists. As a matter of fact, bluefin tuna had several nonregular experiences in the past (Neuparth, 1925) and they are possibly having some more that we don’t know.
The idea to visit for several years the North Sea up to the Norway (Gruvel, 1922; Heldt, 1923, 1925, 1926; Le
Gall, 1926) was not so good. It seems that bluefin tuna were attracted in these cold and shallow waters mostly by
the high availability of good food with a high fat content (herrings and other species). Massive movements are
historically reported and the very rapid disappearance of this fishery (Tangen, 2009) (Figure 9, from 1950 to
1979) was mostly the reason for a dedicated Symposium by ICCAT held in 2008 (Anon. 2009). Therefore, it
seems that a combination of environmental factors, a decrease of the prey species due to overfishing and the high
fishing pressure applied to bluefin tuna in the short period were all together responsible for this disappearance
(Fromentin, 2002b; Fonteneau, 2009, Nøttestad et al, 2009). Even in this case, several people reacted, claiming
for a disaster for the bluefin tuna and some others tried to reiterate the same in recent times.
A similar situation, but with even more unclear displacement, occurred between 1951 and 1964 (Figure 9) in the
southwest Atlantic. This period was called “the Brazilian fishery” and it provided good yields for several years.
Then the massive presence of bluefin tuna decreased in a very short time and apparently most of the specimens
moved away from that area (Takeuchi et al., 2009). There are not many good scientific analyses or data about
the reason for these movements, but there is a good possibility that this intense fishery in the southwest Atlantic
1010
was the major cause affecting the western bluefin tuna stock for the following decades. But even this possibility
was never seriously analysed.
Even the presence of bluefin tuna (and consequent catches) in the North Atlantic up to Iceland is not clear from a
behavioural point of view, but if we consider the disappearance of this species in the North Sea and the strong
reduction of fishing yields in the southwest Atlantic as a sign of a reduction in the distribution area, then we
should consider the presence of bluefin tuna in the North Atlantic as an extension of the distribution area. But
this is only one of the human approaches, because bluefin tuna are not aware of this thinking.
There is another issue, which is possibly linked to the same area but it is very often forgotten by most of the
scientists working on bluefin tuna research. It was pointed out in the past several times mostly by Jones (1971),
Rodiguez Roda (1980), Cort (1980), Arena & Cefali (1982) and Arena (1982c, 1988). Some specimens were
found during the fishing activity in Norway (Rodiguez Roda (1980), while others were noticed in the Canary
Islands (Cort, 1980); Rivas (in Arena, 1980) reported that many specimens with bite marks are commonly found
among the bluefin tuna catches in the Bahamas. Bluefin tunas with these marks were reported also by Heldt
(1932) in Spain and Morocco, but the marks were wrongly attributed to the Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus).
In the Mediterranean, since the 1970s, several specimens of medium and large size bluefin tunas were found
with crater wounds in the lower posterior section of the body, in the perianal part (Figure 10).
These types of marks are typically caused by the bites of a small shark, Isistius brasiliensis (Quoy and Gaimard,
1824), the smalltooth cookiecutter shark. This shark species is distributed in several areas in various oceans, but
its presence is more common in the South Atlantic; it is not present in the Mediterranean Sea. It is usually a
deep-water shark (diving down to 3500 m), but having nocturnal movements up to the surface. The bites of
Isistius brasiliensis leave natural marks able to be distinguished and identified for the entire life of the fish. The
percentage of bluefin tuna with these marks in the catches from the South Tyrrhenian Sea varied from a
minimum of 0.68% to a maximum of 2% in the 1970s and the 1980s (Arena, 1982c, 1988a, 1988b, 1990; Arena
& Cefali, 1982); almost all these specimens were large males. Actually, according to the observers’ reports, the
presence of tuna with these natural marks is still reported every year in the central Mediterranean.
These interesting and curious natural marks pose various problems in our understanding of the bluefin tuna
movements and those questions remain unsolved even after the various tagging activities with pop-up satellite
tags and archival tags carried out in the 1990s and in recent years (Cort, 1999). As a matter of fact, only one
tagged bluefin tuna went from the Mediterranean to south of Cape Verde Islands. It is very difficult to
understand in which part of the Atlantic Ocean these marks are caused, but it seems logical that these natural
marks reveal movements which are not known by the scientists and a possible different distribution (maybe
vertical?) of medium and large males in some parts on the Atlantic Ocean, before migrating to the Mediterranean
for spawning.
There is another important issue, which is often forgotten when dealing with the eastern Atlantic stock of bluefin
tuna. It is well known since the time of Plinius (1st century B.C.), that an undefined portion of the Atlantic
bluefin tuna adult population remained in the Mediterranean Sea for an undefined number of years (more than
one year), wintering there. This point was raised many times in the 20th century (Genovese 1965; Scordia,
1934b, 1934c, 1935a) or even more recently (Di Natale et al., 2005c, 2005d) and this part of the stock is
certainly present in the deep central Mediterranean waters (including the area of the Strait of Messina) and it
should be possibly present also in the eastern Mediterranean (Karakulak and O ray, 2009), where it is supposed
that a portion of the sub-population originally located in the Black Sea might stay. The effects of these “resident”
bluefin tunas on the VPA have never been analysed.
As it was explicitly mentioned in the external assessment of ICCAT carried out in 2008 (ICCAT, 2009), maybe
there are too many ICCAT scientists knowing very well the mathematical models while only a few scientists
seem to really known the species and their life in the wild, often with an unbalanced situation. This fact is
creating a sort of parallel vision of what is happening in the reality, relying much more on numerical data
independently from their real meaning against the evidence coming from the situation at sea, where not
everything can be immediately translated into numbers.
5. The stock assessment
SCRS carried out several stock assessments of bluefin tuna and all of them were based on the huge database kept
by the ICCAT Secretariat, which includes the data transmitted by the Statistical Correspondents of each
1011
Contracting Party or fishing entity. Data provided by scientists during the SCRS meetings are also included. The
stock assessment methodology is mostly based on the VPA with a lot of exploratory hypothesis or comparison
with other methodologies when necessary. The SCRS and the ICCAT Secretariat have high-level experts able to
run these sophisticated models, which are considered the best available on the scientific market. This situation,
which appears as one of the best among the various RFMOs, is not able to overcome a series of problems which
are knows since many years.
It is well known that VPA is a model widely used in many fisheries and for a broad range of species, but it is not
adequate to describe the enormous complexity of species having a huge geographic distribution and very
complex movements (even massive), either vertical and horizontal. It relays mostly on total catch by gear, size
frequencies distribution by gear, area and time strata, recruitment and standardised CPUE series by gear (other
inputs exists and others are also possible). It provides a range of predictive hypothesis, which could be huge
according to various choices, taking into account the uncertainties inputted by the scientists. This is the best
available tool at the moment and this is the reason why it is adopted by SCRS and ICCAT, but everybody knows
that it is not a magic tool and its limits in describing large pelagic fish populations are very well known by the
specialists. Anyway, this is what we have and we have to deal with it.
There is a very well-known sentence about the mathematic models: “garbage in, garbage out”. It is often recalled
during the SCRS discussion to underline the bad quality of several data sets, particularly those on bluefin tuna
and even more so after the adoption of the quota system in 1996. In the past situation, catch data were sometimes
incomplete or missing for some Contracting Parties (the statistical services were very different in each CP), but
they were “honest” in their quality. Size frequencies, biological data and CPUE were usually provided by
scientists and, even if they were often very localised, their quality was always considered sufficiently reliable.
When ICCAT decided to adopt and enforce the quota system for the bluefin tuna (was the first TAC never
adopted in the Mediterranean Sea and it is still the only one), then the “gold rush” started and this was the cause
of the incredible deterioration of the data submitted to ICCAT, as SCRS reports stated for many years.
The data that were submitted by scientists at the end of the 1990s were used by some CPs to raise issues about
compliance with the ICCAT rules, even if this is not possible in theory. This fact created an enormous problem
in the system, because scientists coming to SCRS meetings, and particularly those working under contracts with
national governments (the large majority), started to pay a lot of attention to their data, avoiding to present data
that were in contrast with the official data provided by the governments. This doesn’t mean that the scientists
manipulated their data: it simply means that some data sets were not presented anymore. This fact is very evident
when examining the size frequencies and their distribution. Small tunas became rare in the reports, because the
undersize catches were not reported by many of the CPs.
This is a very relevant point, because it raises a few important and basic problems: the use of scientific data for
compliance issues and the direct detrimental effects on the assessment model.
The first is a procedural problem, because scientific data must always be used only for scientific purposes, to
better understand the situation concerning a species and for suggesting the necessary strategies to better manage
that species according to the best scientific evidence. If those data are used against individual Contracting
Parties, it is logical that national scientists cannot take this individual responsibility on their shoulders. This is an
old discussion, going on in various fora: as a general principle, data from scientists should be used only for
scientific purposes, while data from inspectors can be used for compliance purposes. The risk in also using the
scientific data for compliance purposes is to face the situation SCRS is facing since years.
The second is a perverted effect, because if Contracting Parties are not reporting the catch of undersized fish,
then it is very difficult to understand how recruitment occurs every year, particularly when fishery-independent
research is not available. The fishery of juvenile bluefin tuna is quite common in the Mediterranean since
historical times. It is reported by ancient writers, but it was considered a great problem also in the 18th and 19th
centuries: Avolio (1805) underlined the need to protect the juvenile bluefin tunas and reported royal decrees
imposing the protection of juveniles and the prohibition to catch, retain and sell them from September to
December in 1795, extended to March in 1796. ICCAT had established various measures to protect juvenile
bluefin tunas, but some of them were contradictory, allowing derogations for some fisheries, due to political
negotiations carried out at the Commission level. But the real problem was not only the catch of juveniles by
large vessels in some areas: it is the huge amount of small boats and vessels catching juvenile bluefin tuna when
these fish approach the coast to get the best food chain. As was written in several reports (Di Natale et al., 1986,
1012
1987, 1988), small boats, mostly used for the leisure fishery, are able to catch important numbers of juveniles per
day and the total number of these boats and vessels in the Mediterranean Sea is quite huge.
Monitoring these catches is very difficult, because these fish are used for personal consumption or for the local
markets, but it is essential to understand the recruitment and follow the yearly variations. If these data are not
collected any more of if they are not reported to the SCRS for the risk of compliance problems, then the SCRS
has no tools to properly assess recruitment, in the absence of other indicators.
Figure 11 shows a true example of two data sets, collected in exactly the same area in 2008, one by scientific
observers monitoring the effective landing by all vessels and the other as landings of vessels having a bluefin
tuna quota reporting their catches in landing declarations and then in Task II statistics. This has been occurring
for many years and in this way the SCRS lost the opportunity to follow the high recruitment noticed in an
anecdotic way by many scientists since 2003 in almost all the Mediterranean areas, thanks to prolonged high
temperatures at seas.
This lack of basic data on recruitment clearly negatively affected the result of the assessment, independently
from the attempt to apply correction factors under the hypothesis of various recruitment scenarios.
Another problem affecting the size distribution in the model is caused by the rare presence of large fish. Usually,
giant tunas are not abundant because of natural factors, but their presence among the catches in the
Mediterranean fisheries was always reported in the past. In recent times, the number of large fish in the national
reports decreased and this was a further cause of concern in the SCRS bluefin tuna assessment. It was decided to
pay particular attention to this issue and it was possible to identify several factors affecting the data. It is very
clear that the different composition of the bluefin tuna schools reported in the previous chapter was one of the
causes, together with the different fishing strategy of the purse seine fleet, but was not the only one.
Giant bluefin tunas in cages were present anyway and even very large specimens were identified (a few over 600
kg, several over 400 kg and many over 200 kg). In the case of large fish, the effects of caging on the fork length,
independently from the number of months, is usually minimal, particularly if compared to the same effect on
juvenile tunas. These catches moved to cages were not properly monitored for many years and these specimens
often escaped from the statistics.
For gears other than the purse seine a different problem was detected: due to the mandatory logbooks and
landing declarations, the only possibility for some fishermen to escape from a quota overshot when landing in
the authorised harbours was to lie about the weight of the individual fish, because the number is always easy to
check. Figure 12 clearly shows the effects of these actions on the Task II data. This fact causes an important bias
in the statistics, because of the decreasing number of large fish, along with the disappearance of juveniles in the
reports and together with the higher presence of small and medium size fish. Logbook data from vessels having
quota are used by many CPs for their official catch declarations to ICCAT.
Length data used in the recent bluefin tuna assessment are affected by several other factors. One of them is the
poor correspondence between the real purse seine catches and the corresponding data input in the VPA. As a
matter of fact, after the adoption of the caging system, it became almost impossible to get a proper number of
length samples at the moment of catching the bluefin tuna, before they are moved to the fattening cages. Only a
few specimens die during the catch operations or the transport and these are not considered as representative of
the structure of the catch. To partly overcome the problem, the ICCAT adopted Rec.06-07, making mandatory a
sampling procedure at the harvesting. This sampling, even considering various factors affecting the growth
during the different fattening periods, was considered able to provide more reliable information about the size
structure of the catches, particularly for the length frequencies of medium and large specimens, where the growth
in length is minimal when they are kept in cages for a few months.
During the last (2008) assessment, it was decided not to use these data that were collected spending a huge effort
and an important amount of money by some CPs. At the same time, it was decided to use the very few data
concerning the fish that died during the purse seine catch operations (a little more than 100 specimens) and raise
them to the total catch by using the Montecarlo suite of the VPA. It is a common point of view of many
scientists that this was able to create really a “virtual population” very far from the real structure of the catches.
As a matter of fact, fish which die during the purse seine operations are usually not the larger ones and the
casuality makes these catches not representatives of the length frequencies in the haul. It is very possible that this
questionable procedure was the causes of the lost of large specimens in the assessments, while very large
specimens were included in the length frequencies collected at harvesting and were not used. The effect of this
1013
data substitution on the assessment is unknown, but certainly was another contribution to the increasing distance
between the outlook and the reality.
Another issue is related to the CPUE series used in tuning the VPA. One of the most reliable for the East
Atlantic stock was originally the Japanese longline series because the data are collected with a very accurate
methodology. This series showed a strong decreasing pattern and this was attributed at the beginning to a clear
sign of lower abundance of the stock. During the ICCAT/GFCM meeting held in Genoa (Italy) in 1996, it was
clearly detected that the LL CPUE data for the Japanese fleet operating in the Mediterranean were negatively
affected by the increasing number of fish stolen from the LL by various fishing vessels5. This problem, able to
seriously bias the analysis, was described and agreed, but the data are still used without any correction factor and
those contribute to lowering all the abundance estimates.
Total catch data, after the adoption of the quota system, faced a real disaster: it was possible for several CPs to
revise their catch statistics for the years previous to the adoption of the quota, which were calculated on the 1995
and 1996 catches. Some CPs really tried their best to get the most reliable statistics, recovering data from any
possible source (including sales notes and invoices), Some others apparently revised their statistics with few (if
any) references to specific documents. The reason for that was to try to obtain the highest possible portion of the
quota, and this was the real “gold rush”. Furthermore, the situation was complicated by the request to establish
new allocation criteria, not only considering the historical catches but also the new needs of coastal CPs, even
without any tradition in the bluefin tuna fishery. This new problem was based on the right of each CP to access a
distributed resource, which is justified in principle. The result of this exercise was a further problem in the
system: CPs with a long historical tradition but with weak statistics got quota shares that were insufficient to
cover their real fishing capacity at that time, while others got quota shares that were well above their fishing
capacity. In a very few cases, vessels from the first set of CPs moved to some CPs of the second group. The final
result was that many CPs were suspected of under-reporting their total catch, some of them were officially
identified by the ICCAT Compliance Committee by cross checking the export data with the catch data, WWF
submitted several severe and documented reports on this issue (Mielgo Bregazzi, 2006, 2008, 2009) and the
SCRS tried to reassess the total figure of catch for the East Atlantic bluefin tuna stock by using theoretical
fishing capacity estimates, which were used in the assessment as a part of the uncertainty and to develop various
management scenarios.
SCRS, in all its reports since about 15 years ago, stated very clearly that there was a progressive deterioration “of
the data” and, after the adoption of the quota system, that the data used for the assessment were “considered
unreliable”.
The final result of these and many other wrong or manipulated inputs to the VPA are now evident. The 2008
assessment (Anon. 2009), in its best scenario, reports a SSB of only 71,000 tons and a total biomass ranging
from 1 to 2 million bluefin tuna. These numbers are clearly very under-estimated in comparison to the real
world, because in the same year the total estimated catch was around 61,000 tons. It is also well known that each
single school of very small bluefin tuna (7-8 cm) can account for more than 120,000 individuals, while this
number changes according to the individual size, and there are usually at least many hundreds of these schools in
each geographic area where there is the proper food chain. The very high number of juveniles is also confirmed
by the huge catch rate reported in the past for several small boats illegally fishing for bluefin tuna. Even the
catch of large specimens every year provides important numbers. These data combined show that the current
assessment provides, under the most optimistic scenarios, total biomass and SSB which are clearly
underestimated.
6. The request to move the northern bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus (Linnaeus, 1758), under the CITES
Appendix 1
The proposal to include the northern bluefin tuna (the West Atlantic and the East Atlantic stocks) into the
Appendix 1 of the Washington Convention (better known as CITES) was promoted by the Government of
Monaco in July 2009 and subsequently endorsed by various countries, most of them not concerned with the
bluefin tuna fishery.
5
The level of subtraction of bluefin tuna from the Japanese longlines was very high. It was possible to detect about 30 tons of stolen bluefin
tuna in only one harbour in one single year.
1014
The proposal is mostly based on the low level of the actual bluefin tuna population, the unsustainable level of
fishing effort, the outputs of the assessment provided by SCRS with the following low recovery figure of the
population in the wild and the mismanagement of this fish resource by ICCAT and all countries concerned.
The proposal makes reference mostly to SCRS documents and WWF reports, but includes several opinions that
cannot be shared, because these appear politically addressed.
As a matter of fact, without considering the points raised in the previous chapters and many others not here
examined, it is possible for an external lecturer to agree in principle with the proposal, then it is necessary to
clarify some points and bring them under a more critical perspective, possibly more close to the reality of the
status of Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Besides some “minor” points, like the reduced spawning season reported or the small spawning areas mentioned
(which is really far from the scientific literature available), one of the key issues is the outputs of the SCRS
assessment in 2007, identifying a SSB of 72,000 tons and a total biomass between 1,000,000 to 2,000,000
individuals. These estimates were already discussed at the end of the previous chapter and they are clearly underestimated under the most optimistic projection. Furthermore, in the proposal there is no mention of the SCRS
report in 2006, when it was clearly said that the data were unreliable and then SCRS was suggesting the ICCAT
Commission to postpone the assessment until reliable data would be made available. The big mistake by SCRS
at that time was not to resist the Commission’s request to go on with the assessment as it was planned in 2007,
without any care to this awareness sign. This is one of the most relevant issues in the entire discussion, because
an assessment carried out by using unreliable data cannot provide reliable estimates, even exploring various
scenarios and considering a wide range of uncertainties. Ignoring this general unreliability is very relevant and a
heavy responsibility.
The proposal by Monaco makes reference to a recent paper by MacKenzie et al. (2009). The authors used very
good mathematical models and their high skills but unreliable data sets and academic hypothesis, also quoting
papers (like Bearzi et al, 2006) which are based on non-scientific methodologies6. There is the general opinion
that the paper from MacKenzie et al. is a good mathematical exercise, based on a high knowledge of population
dynamics but without any direct knowledge of the bluefin tuna itself and the fishery, possibly having a clear
target to reach.
Bluefin tuna are considered in the Monaco proposal as “a medium productivity species”, while bluefin tuna are
usually included within species having a considerable recruitment, which is the case in the Mediterranean Sea
since 2003. The natural mortality rate is assumed by convention since many years and it is possibly underestimated, but it was adopted by SCRS and maintained at the same value for a long period, without taking into
account the improvements for the evaluation of this basic factor, which is one of the most relevant in a
population assessment.
The marked decline of the population reported by the proposal is logically and heavily affected by the
assumptions and the unreliable data; at least the SSB trend is clearly wrong (otherwise, we should assume that
the remaining less than 10% SSB in 2007 was able to produce the high recruitment noted in 2008 and in 2009).
There is another factor affecting the overall view of the bluefin tuna spawning (and then the recruitment
capacity): the proposal from Monaco, along with a few other papers, reports data on the spawning season and on
the environmental conditions which are necessary to induce the spawning, which are scientifically wrong. As a
matter of fact, it is well known by the huge amount of scientific literature available on this issue, that spawning
can usually occur from mid-May to mid-July, with certain variability according to the local oceanographic
conditions. The temperature in the upper stratum of the sea must be usually >21°C (and not >24°C) and with a
well-established thermocline, providing the existence of a warm upper layer of the sea at depths of more than
10m. This last factor is very relevant, because it is necessary to have a certain water mass at the surface with the
right temperature to induce the biochemical stimuli and the proper temperature jump (usually a difference of
about 3°C between the upper and the lower stratum is necessary to induce the physiological stimuli) at the
thermocline to work as a sort of biological switch for the spawners. Increasing the minimum temperature and
6
The paper from Bearzi et al. 2006, pointing out the strong decreasing of bluefin tuna in the Ionian Sea, is based on an assessment by
“sightings of BFT” in a very small part of the Ionian Sea from an inflatable boat and for a couple of years, applying the same methodology
used for marine mammals and without considering the fundamental behavioural difference between a marine mammal and a fish! The same
author, in a previous work, assessed the abundance of small pelagic species in an island in Greece by counting the fish scales floating at the
surface, collecting them with a small net. This last assessment was taken as the scientific evidence to support the hypothesis of a food
shortage for Tursiops truncatus and then to request IUCN to attribute a higher status in the Red List.
1015
shortening the spawning seasons (as it was done in the proposal) are elements able to negatively affect the
theoretic reproduction capacity of the East Atlantic stock in the assessment.
The full vision of the status of Atlantic bluefin tuna is heavily negative, without considering several factors, able
at least to raise strong doubts about the pessimistic assessments, like, for example, this points raised by SCRS in
its 2008 Report:
“In summary, available indicators from small fish fisheries in the Bay of Biscay did not show any consistent
trend since the mid-1970s. This result is not particularly surprising because of strong inter-annual variation in
year class strength. Indicators from longliners and traps targeting large fish (spawners) in the East Atlantic and
the Mediterranean Sea displayed a recent increase after a general decline since the mid-1970s. The Group
found it difficult to derive any clear conclusion from fisheries indicators in the absence of more precise
information about the catch composition, effort and spatial distribution of the purse seine fisheries (which
represent more than 60% of the total recent reported catch). Fisheries-independent indicators and a large scale
tagging program in the Mediterranean Sea are also strongly needed to fill major gaps of scientific information.”
It is a fact that the CPUE data from the Japanese longliners are increasing in the last five years, mirroring the
relevant increase in recruitment since 2003. But both these facts are not assessed.
Another important point raised by the proposal is that the bluefin tuna are “affected by trade”. As a matter of
fact, bluefin tuna are affected by international trade since the Roman times and maybe even from the Phoenician
times. Whenever we consider that the total catch level in the 16th century in the Mediterranean was estimated to
be close to 60,000 t (with tuna traps only)7, than we can easily realise that there is something wrong in the
present outlook and in the common understanding of this species. Even the market motivations are wrongly
stated, because the fishery is not only driven by the Japanese market and Mediterranean inhabitants do not only
consume fresh tuna meat. Of course, it is well known that many problems were recently caused by the
international trade, particularly that promoted by the Japanese market, and by the trade of IUU products, but
these are the result of weak controls, and not by the trade itself.
The proposal by Monaco includes large parts of descriptions about the bluefin tuna natural history, the biology
and ethology, but there is a lot of misleading information. About recruitment, the effects of environmental
factors remain obscure, particularly if nobody analyses them. At the same time, while it is well stated in the
proposal that the ecological extinction of bluefin tuna would result in an unpredictable effect on the prey
populations, it is simply not taken into account what the effect was on bluefin tuna of the heavy fisheries on its
prey species that is happening since decades. This approach is scientifically not the most adequate. It is again a
clear demonstration that the field knowledge is very poor and the scientific literature considered is limited to the
most recent papers, independently from well established scientific knowledge.
A lot of attention is given to the fact that the bulk of the fishery is targeting spawners and this fact heavily
affected the SSB in the last 10 years. The problem is again the poor knowledge of the history of this fishery,
because most of the historical catches over the centuries (at least in weight!) have been always spawners,
apparently without creating many problems for the bluefin tuna population. It is always a problem of balancing
the catch with the availability of the resource and among age classes. When the proposal reports that ICCAT set
quota levels well over those indicated by the assessment, it doesn’t make any reference to the unreliable data
used for it. Besides other considerations, this was taken into account by the Commission in assigning the quota
under a management plan.
If we consider the SCRS assessment as true, having between 25 to 35% overfishing of the MSY, then it should
be necessary to explain why, after more than 10 years of this situation, bluefin tuna are still alive and the purse
seine fleets are able to catch almost the full quota each year in less than 10 days! It is clear, again, that the
outlook is based on unreliable data and even less reliable assessments, as stated many times by SCRS. This
should be taken into account, together with the fact that bluefin tuna (even if it is overfished at an unknown
level) are still largely present in all the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic, while the enforcement of the
ICCAT regulation is seriously becoming effective and very strict measures were adopted by the EC in 20098.
7
This estimated level, obtained by extrapolating the known catch from several traps to the total number of the traps known in the
Mediterranean Sea, is very close to the maximum estimated catch obtained by SCRS for the East Atlantic bluefin tuna stock in recent times.
8
The fishing season in 2009 was conducted with a 100% observer coverage of the EU purse seine fleet and 20% observer coverage of the
longline fleet, while many inspections have been conducted at sea by national and international patrol vessels. The tuna cages in EU
countries had 100% observer coverage. Many tuna vessels were blocked at the harbours for compliance issues and the effective EU fleet was
largely reduced. The 2009 purse seine fishing season was limited by bad weather situations, but vessels were able to catch the individual
quota in a very short time, due to the availability of the resource at sea.
1016
The eventual suspension of bluefin tuna fishing mentioned by the ICCAT external advisory panel in 2008
(ICCAT, 2009) does not necessarily include the listing of the stocks in CITES Appendix 1, but strict
management measures. As a matter of fact, the CITES option is not mentioned at all in the report. Furthermore,
it doesn’t take into account any social, cultural and economic aspects of the fisheries. For example, the closure of
the bluefin tuna fishery, even for only one year, will result in losing the tuna trap and the harpoon fisheries (two
historical activities having a very limited impact on the bluefin tuna stock) forever, because they are not able to
stay in stand-by even for one year only. The harpoon fishery, targeting mostly swordfish, has bluefin tuna9 as an
important component of its little economy and without this species it will be not profitable anymore. The tuna
trap fishery has a huge labour component and stopping the activity even for only one year will cause an
immediate loss of the staff and great economic damage for each factory. Both of these fisheries are “survivors”
from ancient times and a part of the Mediterranean culture. Like for the traditional Inuit activities in whale
hunting, at least historical fisheries should be excluded from all these discussions and kept alive and active
independently of any management decision.
It is useless to examine here in detail all the other points of the proposal, because many parts are more than
questionable. Discussions should go on for long times and they usually occur every year in the SCRS.
7. Conclusions
Poor knowledge of the natural history of this species by someone is rapidly becoming science in the public
domain, forgetting about centuries of scientific papers. At the same time, it is clear that the scientific information
on this species and its fishery must be seriously improved, including the necessary fishery-independent data.
The CITES is a very important Convention, highly reputed all over the world, that has been efficient and
effective in protecting many species from extinction in the wild. All the species listed in Appendix 1 have or had
serious conservation problems in terms of threat of extinction and the CITES is designed exactly for this. The
CITES offices are used to deal with those problems and the level of controls, fines and other legal provisions is
very high in most of the signatory countries.
This is the reason why the use of CITES for widely distributed species not having a real conservation problem in
terms of zoological extinction is really inappropriate and pertains to a political issue more than a conservation
problem. And no one has ever demonstrated or even reported that Atlantic bluefin tuna are threatened by
extinction. The discussion is mostly driven about a possible “stock collapse” according to the outlook of the
stock assessment, contradicted by the recent observations included in the 2008 and 2009 SCRS reports.
The 2009 bluefin fishing season had, for the very first time, a serious enforcement of the ICCAT regulation at
least among all the EC Countries (following a strong political will by the European Commission), with full
observers coverage for the EC purse seiners and the established percentage of coverage on other activities,
immediately resulting in full compliance for these fleets in terms of respecting the rules and the quota. The direct
involvement of the Community Fishery Control Agency (established in 2005) and the strict monitoring of the
VMS data made a strong contribution to demonstrate that, when there is a common political will, it is possible to
control a certain fishing activity and strictly enforce the rules.
Since some years ago, there has been clear general mismanagement problem and the bluefin tuna are overfished,
particularly in the last decade when fleets increased too much, but this is still a serious fishery management
problem and we are all lucky that it is not a conservation issue, because, again, bluefin tuna are not threatened by
extinction.
It is commonly accepted that the modelling of fisheries, and particularly for large migratory species, is not
reliable in terms of predicting the future: fishery statistics are certainly extremely useful to understand the
present by analysing the past, but data should be as reliable as possible. When a scientific committee like the
ICCAT SCRS states very clearly that the bluefin tuna data are unreliable, it is absolutely impossible to get
reliable forecast for the stocks.
The unreliable and unrealistic outlook of the stock, caused by the unreliable data, and the continuous shifting of
the forecast (and the overfishing figure) after each assessment are all clear indications that the situation is serious
but it is not extremely dramatic. The unreliability of the data and the outputs of the assessment make difficult to
9
Total bluefin tuna catches might be on the order of not more than 2 tons per year.
1017
properly analyse if the current situation of this species fits the CITES criteria. When we take into account the
situation at sea and many other issues discussed in this paper, there is a good evidence of this statement.
Listing the Atlantic bluefin tuna in CITES Appendix 1 would result in practice in a complete ban of the fishery
in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at least for the first two years and in very serious and conflicting
management issues in the following years, because the domestic CITES authorities are different from the
domestic fishery authorities, and national CITES Scientific Commissions usually do not include any fishery
scientist in several countries.
CITES has an incredible amount of bureaucracy, possibly necessary to ensure a full control of the system for
very threatened species, but impossible to be followed by any fishermen and difficult to be followed also by any
fishery authority. The time required by the CITES bureaucracy does not fit any fishery need, because this
Convention was established for other purposes.
Contrary to the statements by some NGOs10, listing a species in CITES under Appendix 1 implies that all the
removals are limited only to scientific needs and according to precise and detailed scientific plans. Trade and
harvesting from nature is fully prohibited, with very few exceptions11. Listing Atlantic bluefin tuna under CITES
Appendix 1 would possibly imply the immediate extinction of the most historical traditional fishing activities in
the EU and in some North African countries, like the tuna traps and the harpoon fishery, with a serious cultural
and socio-economical problem. Both these activities have no responsibility in the current problems of Atlantic
bluefin tuna and they must be protected anyway.
RFMOs and CITES have clearly different management roles and different responsibilities (Di Natale, 2003,
2004a; Kell et al., 2000).
The Atlantic bluefin tuna has a serious management problem and even more serious data and assessment
problems and these need to be faced by the responsible management body, the ICCAT, with the fundamental
support of all Contracting Parties and under the external overview of important NGOs. This is a clear
responsibility issue, but again it is still not a conservation problem. The ICCAT bluefin tuna recovery plan must
be immediately and strictly enforced, with no derogations or exemptions.
If the management of Atlantic bluefin tuna will pass from the ICCAT, one of the most reputed RFMOs, to the
CITES, than the credibility of ICCAT will be lost forever and this will cause unpredictable problems for many
species and for the RFMOs system in general.
If the Atlantic bluefin tuna is listed in CITES Appendix 1 having many millions of individuals dispersed in the
oceans, then the inclusion of many other halieutic species12 will necessarily follow the same track in a short time,
creating a serious problem in terms of management roles and responsibility.
10
All the recent press releases by WWF (namely the WWF Bluefin Tuna Bulletin) report that listing the bluefin tuna in CITES under the
Appendix 1 will only exclude international trade, still permitting the national fisheries and domestic consumption. Maybe the author of these
relaxing texts forget that bluefin tuna, being a marine species, are usually caught at sea; it means that fishing this species, even for domestic
(personal???) consumption, will imply the introduction of these catches in the national territory of each CP. These unrealistic statements are
possibly deliberately made to slow down the opposition due to socio-economical issues. Following herewith is the original text provided by
Art. III (5) of the CITES (as signed in Washington on 3 March 1973 and as amended in Bonn on 22 June 1979):
Art. III. Point 5: The introduction from the sea of any specimen of a species included in Appendix I shall require the prior grant of a
certificate from a Management Authority of the State of introduction. A certificate shall only be granted when the following
conditions have been met:
(a) a Scientific Authority of the State of introduction advises that the introduction will not be detrimental to the survival of the
species involved;
(b) a Management Authority of the State of introduction is satisfied that the proposed recipient of a living specimen is suitably
equipped to house and care for it; and
(c) a Management Authority of the State of introduction is satisfied that the specimen is not to be used for primarily commercial
purposes.
11
12
One of the few exceptions is the whale hunting permitted to the Inuit population for subsistence.
Many stocks of fish, crustaceans and cephalopods have more problems than the bluefin tuna one.
1018
8. Bibliography
Abascal F.J., Megina C., Medina A., 2003, Histological and stereological assessment of batch fecundity
spawning frequency and maturation of female Atlantic bluefin tuna around the Balearic Islands. Cahiers
Otions Méditerranéennes, 60: 13-14.
Abid N., Idrissi M., 2009, Analysis of the Moroccan trap fishery targeting bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) during
the period 1986-2006. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 133-138.
Addis P., Locci I., Cau A., 2009, Anthropogenic impacts on Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) trap fishery of
Sardinia (Western Mediterranean). Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 174-185.
Aldrovandi U., 1638, De piscibus et de Cetis. Tip. Nicola Tebaldi, Bologna, V: 1-359.
Alliata F., 1951, Il tonno e la tonnara. In: Le vie d’Italia. Touring Club Italiano.
Aloncle H., 1964, Note sur le Thon rouge de la Baie Ibero-Marocaine (II). Bull. I.P.M.M., 12: 29-41.
Alvarado Bremer J.R., Viñas J., Mejuto J., Ely B., Pla C., 2005, Comparative phylogeography of Atlantic bluefin
tuna and swordfish: the combined effects of vicariance, secondary contact, introgression, and population
expansion on the regional phylogenies of two highly migratory pelagic fishes. Mol. Phylogen. Evol, doi:
10.1016/j.ympev. 2004.12.011.
Angotzi F., 1901, L’industria delle Tonnare in Sardegna. Bologna.
Anon., 1952, Mattanza del Tonno. Ente Prov. Turismo, Trapani: 1-14.
Anon. 2009a. Report of the World Symposium for the Study into the Stock Fluctuation of Northern Bluefin
Tunas (Thunnus Thynnus and Thunnus Orientalis), Including the Historical Periods (Santander, Spain,
April 22 to 24, 2008). Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 1-49.
Anon. 2009b. Report of the 2008 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Stock Assessment Session (Madrid, Spain, June 23 to
July 4, 2008). Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 64(1): 1-352.
Arena P., 1959, Observations accomplies pendant la saison de pêche 1958 dans une madrague le long des cotes
de la Sicilie. FAO, Proc.Gen.Coun.Médit., 5: 510-514.
Arena P., 1963, Observations dans la partie sud de la mer Tyrrhenienne sur les habitudes et le comportement du
thon rouge (Thunnus thynnus, L.) pendant sa period génetique. FAO Proc. Gen. Fish. Coun. Médit., 7 :
395-411.
Arena P., 1971, Orientamenti ed attività del Centro Sperimentale per l’industria della Pesca e dei Prodotti del
Mare di Messina. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., n.s.1(2) : 21-51.
Arena P., 1980, Observation aeriennes sur la distribution et le comportement du Thon rouge, Thunnus thynnus
(L.), de la Mer Tyrrhenienne. XXVII Congr. Assem. Plen. CIESM, Cagliari.
Arena P., 1981, Osservazioni sulle concentrazioni e sulla pesca del Tonno e dell’Alalunga nelle zone di mare
meridionali. Quad.Lab.Tecn.Pesca., 3(1), suppl.: 77-79.
Arena P., 1982a, Biologia, ecologia e pesca del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L) osservati in un quinquennio nel
Tirreno meridionale. Atti Conv. UU.OO: sottop. Ris.Biol.Inq.Marino, Roma: 381-405.
Arena P., 1982b, Caratteristiche delle reti a circuizione per tonno e loro efficienza in relazione alle condizioni
ambientali ed ai comportamenti della specie pescata. Atti Conv. UU.OO. sottop. Ris.Biol.Inq.Marino,
Roma: 407-424.
Arena P., 1982c, Composizione demografica dei branchi di tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.) durante il periodo
genetico, con indicazioni utili alla individuazione dello stock di riproduttori che affluiscono nel Mar
Tirreno. Atti Conv. UU.OO. sottop. Ris. Biol. Inq. Marino, Roma.
Arena P., 1982d, La pêche a la senne tournante du thon rouge, Thunnus thynnus (L.), dans les bassins maritimes
occidentaux italiens. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 17(2): 281-292.
Arena P., 1985, La pesca del tonno in Sicilia. Atti Conv.Pesca e Trasf. Prod. Itt. Siciliani, Trapani: 23-28.
Arena P., 1986, Sullo stato e le caratteristiche della pesca in Italia dei grandi Teleostei pelagici (Tonno, Alalunga
e Pescespada). Rapp. Min.Mar.Merc., miméo: 1-17.
Arena P., 1986b. Pesca dei grandi Scombroidei e degliXifioidei nei mari Italiani. Nova Thalassia, 8 (3): 657658.
Arena P., 1988a, Risultati delle rilevazioni sulle affluenze del tonno nel Tirreno e sull’andamento della pesca da
parte delle “tonnare volanti” nel triennio 1984-1986. MMM-CNR, Atti Seminari UU.OO. Resp.Prog.
Ric., Roma: 273-297.
1019
Arena P., 1988b, Rilevazioni e studi sulle affluenze del tonno nel Tirreno e sull’andamento della pesca da parte
delle “tonnare volanti” nel quadriennio 1984-1988. Report to: ESPI, Ente Siciliano per la Promozione
Industriale, Palermo, 1-55, I-XI.
Arena P., 1990a, Rilevazioni e studi sulle caratteristiche e lo stato delle risorse di Tonno e sugli andamenti della
pesca (Relazione sulla prosecuzione 1987-89). Report to: ESPI, Ente Siciliano per la Promozione
Industriale, Palermo, 1-58.
Arena P., 1990b, Fork-length and mean age structure of South Tyrrhenian purse seine bluefin tuna catch for the
years 1982 and 1984 to 1968. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 33: 108-113.
Arena P., 1990c, Catch and effort of the bluefin tuna purse seine fishing in the South Tyrrhenian Sea. Collect.
Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 33: 117-118.
Arena P., Li Greci F., 1970, Marquages de Thonidés en mer Tyrrhénienne. Journées Ichthyol. C.I.E.S.M.: 115119.
Arena P., Cefali A., Potoschi A., 1979, Risultati di studi sulla biologia, la distribuzione e la pesca dei grandi
scombro idei nel Tirreno meridionale e nello Ionio. X(4): 329-345.
Arena P., Cefali A., Munaò F., 1980a, Analisi sull’età, peso, lunghezza ed accrescimento di Thunnus thynnus
(L.) catturati nei mari della Sicilia. Mem.Biol.Mar.Ocean., X(5): 119-134.
Arena P., Cefali A., Soldano F., 1980b, Valutazioni dello sforzo di pesca sulle concentrazioni di tonni genetici
del Tirreno meridionale. Mem.Biol.Mar.Ocean.
Arena P., Di Natale A., 1987, Situazione della pesca dei grandi Scomboidei (tonno, alalunga e pescespada) in
Sicilia. 1a Conf.Reg.Pesca, Mazara del Vallo: 1-13.
Arena P., Cefali A., 2002, Composizione demografica dei branchi di tonno, Thunnus thynnus (L.) durante il
periodo genetico, con indicazioni utili alla individuazione dello stock di riproduttori che affluiscono nel
Mar Tirreno. Atti Conv. UU: OO. Ris. Biol. Inq. Marino, Roma: 425-442.
Aricò F., Genovese S., 1953, Sui caratteri biometrici del Tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.) tirrenico. Boll. Pesca
Piscic. Idrobiol., 8(1): 1-44.
Aristotelis, 1635, De Animalibus. In: Stagiritae peripatetico rum. Principis de Historia Animalium. Ed. Theodoro
Goza, Venezia: 1-843.
Athaeneus di Naucratis (Ateneo), 1656, Deumosophistae. Hugueton J.A. & Ravan M.A.: 1-812.
Aubet M.E., 1987, Tiro y las colonias fenicias de Occidente, Edicions Bellaterra, Barcelona: 1-323.
Avolio F.P, 1805, Delle Leggi Siciliane intorno alla Pesca. Reale Stamperia, Palermo: 1-239.
Bacci G.M., 1982, Antico insediamento per la pesca e la lavorazione del tonno presso Portopalo. Kokalos, F.
Serra Ed., Roma, 28-29: 345-347.
Bacci G.M., 1984, Portopalo (1981-83), antica “Tonnara”. Kokalos, F. Serra Ed., Roma, 30-31: 716-721.
Bard F.X., Cort J.L., Rey J.C., 1978, Commentaire sur la composition démographique des pêcheries de Thon
rouge (Thunnus thynnus) de l’Est Atlantique et de la Méditerranée, 1960-1976. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap.
ICCAT, 7(2): 355-365.
Basile B., 1992, Stabilimenti per la lavorazione del pesce lungo le coste siracusane: Vendicari e Portopalo. Atti
V Rass. Arch. Subacques, Giardini Naxos, 19-21 Ott. 1990: 55-86:
Bearzi G., Politi E., Agazzi F., Azzellino A., 2006, Prey depletion caused by overfishing and the decline of
marine megafauna in the eastern Ionian Sea coastal waters (Central Mediterranean). Biol. Conservation,
127: 373-382.
Belloc G., 1961, Inventaire des madragues méditerranéennes. FAO Tech. Pap. Gen. Fish. Coun. Medit., 6: 345361.
Bellón Uriarte, 1926, La industria del Atùn en España. Resultado de las campañas realizadas por acuerdos
internacionales. Ministerio de Marina, Direccion general de Pesca, 3: 1-98.
Ben Lazreg N., Bonifay M., Drine A., Trousset P., 1995, Production ed commercialisation des salsamenta de
l’Afrique ancienne. Actes VI colloque Hist. Et Archéol., de l’Afrique (Pau, 25-29 Octobre 1993), CTHS,
Paris: 103-142.
Berthelot S., 1868, Etudes sur les pêches maritimes dans la Méditerranée et l’Océan. Challamel Ed., Paris: 1487.
Biancalana T., 1955, Alla pesca vagativa dei giovani tonni. Il Giornale della Pesca: 1-32.
Block B.A., Dewar H., Blackwell S.B., 2001, Migratory movements, depth preferences and thermal biology of
Atlantic bluefin tuna. Science, 293: 1310-1314.
1020
Block B.A., Stevens E.D. (Editors), 2001 - Tuna. Physiology, ecology, and evolution. Fish Physiology Series,
vol. 19. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
Bonhommeau S., Farrugio H., Poisson F., Fromentin J-M., 2010, in press, Aerial suveys of bluefin tuna in the
western Mediterranean sea: retrospective, prospective perspective. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 65.
Braun G., Hogenberg F., 1572-1617, Civitates Orbis Terrarum. Colonia: 340 tabl.
Bresc H., 1981, La pêche et les madragues dans la Sicile médiévale. In: L’homme méditerranée et la mer. Jerba,
avril 1981. Institut National d’Archéologie et d’Art de Tunis: 166-180.
Bresc H., 1984, Pesca e tonnare della Sicilia medievale. In: Miscellanea Storica Ligure, Genova, 16(2): 123-139.
Bresc H., 1986, Un monde méditerranéen. Economie et Societé en Sicile, 1330-1450. Ecole Française e Rome, 2
vol.: 1-981.
Bresc H., 1987, La pêche dans l’espace économique Normand. In : Terra e Uomini nel Mezzogiorno normannosvevo. Bari, Ott.1985, Centro di Studi Normanni e Svevi. Atti, 7: 271-291.
Bridges C.R., Krohn O., Deflorio M., De Metrio G., 2009, Possible sst and NAO influences on the eastern
bluefin tuna stock. The inexfish approach. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap., ICCAT, 63: 138-152.
Brill R., 1994, A review of temperature and oxygen tolerance studies of tunas pertinent to fisheries
oceanography, movements model and stock assessment. Fish. Oceanogr., 3(3): 204-216.
Brill R.W., Lutcavage M.E., 2001, Understanding environmental influences on movements and depth
distributions of tunas and billfishes can significantly improve population assessments. American Fisheries
Society Symposium, 25: 179-198.
Broughton R.E,. Gold J.E., 1997 - Microsatellite development and survey of variation in northern bluefin tuna
(Thunnus thynnus). Mol. Mar. Biol. Biotechnol., 6: 308-314.
Carey F.G., 1973, Fishes with warm bodies. Scientific American, 228 (2): 36-44.
Carlsson J., McDowell J.R., Diaz-Jaimes P., Carlsson J.E.L., Boles S.B., Gold J.R., Graves J.E., 2004 Microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analyses of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus thynnus)
population structure in the Mediterranean Sea. Mol. Ecol. 13: 3345-3356.
Carp., 1951, Fishery resources in Turkey. FWS, Fishery leaflet, 390: 1-24.
Cattaneo Vietti R., Bava S., 2009, La Tonnarella e la pesca tradizionale a Camogli. Le Mani Ed. Genova: 1-143.
Cau A., 1993, Valutazione degli stock di grandi scombro idei (Tonnoe Pescespada) e dell’incidenza sull’attività
della pesca italiana (mari circostanti la Sardegna). Final Report. II Piano Nazionale della Pesca e
dell’Acquacoltura, Ministero della Marina Mercantile, Roma.
Cau A., 1996, Valutazione delle risorse pelagiche. Mari circostanti la Sardegna. Relazione Finale. III Piano
Nazionale della Pesca e dell’Acquacoltura. Ministero delle Risorse Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali,
Roma.
Cau A., Cavallaro G., De Metrio G., Di Natale A., Marano G., Orsi Relini L., Piccinetti C., 1999, Revision of
recent bluefin tuna catches in Italy. Genova, September 1998, Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 49(2): 434436.
Cavallaro G., Manganaro A., Potoschi A., Cefali A., Lo Duca G., 1996, Distribuzione degli stocks di
pescespada, tonno, alalunga, palamita e biso nel Mediterraneo tramite l’analisi del pescato delle marinerie
della costa siciliana. Rapporto Finale attività 1994-1995. Ministero delle Risorse Agricole, Alimentari e
Forestali, Roma.
Cetti F., 1777, Storia naturale di Sardegna. III. Anfibi e Pesci. Tip. Giuseppe Piattoli, Cagliari: 1-208.
Cimmaruta R., Nascetti G., Bullini L., 1999, Primi dati sulla struttura genetica di alcune specie di grandi pelagici
nel Mediterraneo. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2): 250-255.
Clark T.B., Ma L., Saillant E., Gold J.R., 2004, Microsatellite DNA markers for population-genetic studies of
Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus thynnus) and other species of genus Thunnus. MEN 4: 70-73.
Collette B.B., Reeb C., Block B.A., 2001, Systematics of the Tunas and Mackerels (Scombridae), In Tuna.
Physiology, ecology, and evolution, Block BA, Stevens ED (Eds). Fish Physiology Series, vol. 19.
Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp. 1-33.
Corriero A., Karakulak S., Santamaria N., Deflorio M., Spedicato D., Addis P., Desantis S., Cirillo F., FennechFarrugia A., Vassallo Agius R., De la Serna J.M., Oray Y., Cau A., Megalofonou P., De Metrio G., 2005,
Size and age at sexual maturity of female bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) from the Mediterranean Sea.
J. Appl., Ichthyol., 21: 483-486.
1021
Corriero A., Desantis S., Deflorio M., Acone F., Bridges C.R., De la Serna J.M., Megalofonou P., De Metrio G.,
2003, Histological investigation on the ovarian cycle of the eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus
thynnus L.). J. Fish Biol., 63: 108-119.
Consolo V., 1987, La pesca del Tonno in Sicilia. Sellerio Ed., Palermo: 1-203.
Corso N., 1952, Mattanzadel Tonno, Trapani. EPT Trapani, Ed. Radio: 1-17.
Corsolini S., Focardi S., Sequi R., 1999, Policlorobifenili e DDTs in tonni (Thunnus thynnus thynnus) catturati
presso l’isola di Favignana e loro implicazioni tossicologiche. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2): 243-249.
Cort J.L., 1990, Biología y pesca del atún rojo. Thunnus thynnus (L.) del mar Cantábrico (Tesis doctoral).
Publicaciones Especiales Instituto Español Oceanografía 4: 1-272.
Cort J.L., 1999, Marcado del atún rojo en el Atlántico y Mediterráneo. Implicaciones en las actuales medidas de
gestión. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6(2): 215-129.
Cort J.L., 2010, in press, Growth and the equation applied to eastern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) stock of the
North Atlantic, twenty years on. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 65.
Cort J.L., Rey J.C., 1983, Distribución geográfica de atún rojo (Thunnus thynnus L.) juvenil del Atlántico Este,
Mediterráneo Occidental y Adriático. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 20(2): 298-238.
Cort J.L., Liorzou B., 1991, Migration Eastern Atlantic - Mediterranean. In: World meeting on stock assessment
of bluefin tunas: strengths and weaknesses, Deriso R.B. and Bayliff W.H. (eds.). IATTC spec. Rep., 7:
130-132.
Cort J.L., De la Serna J.M., 1994, Revisión de los datos de marcado/recaptura de atún rojo (Thunnus thynnus) en
el Atlántico oriental y Mediterráneo. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 42(1): 255-259.
Cort J.L., Liorzou B., 1995, Revisión de los datos de marcado/recaptura de atún rojo (Thunnus thynnus) en al
Atlántico Este y Mediterráneo. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 44(1): 293-304.
Cort J.L., De La Serna M., De Metrio G., Cacucci M., Sion L., Liorzou B., Orsi Relini L., Caragitsou E.,
Papacostantinou C., Pla C., Tsimenides N., Tserpes G., Yannopoulos C., Megalofonou P., 1995,
Characterisation of large pelagic stocks (Thunnus thynnus L., Thunnus alalunga Bonn., Sarda sarda
Bloch, Xiphias gladius L.,) in the Mediterranean. Final Report. EC Contract XIV MED/91/012.
Cort J.L., Abuanza P., De Metrio G., 2009, Analysis of the northeast Atlantic juvenile bluefin tuna (Thunnus
thynnus) population between 1949 and 1960. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 108-121.
Costanza S., 2000, Gli uomini, il lavoro, l’economia. In: Ravazza N.: La terra delle Tonnare. Trapani, Pro Loco
San Vito Lo Capo.
Curtis R., 1988, Spanish trade in salted fish products in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Intern. Journ. Naut. Arch.
Underw. Explor., 17(3): 205-210.
Curtis R.I. 1991. Garum and Salsamenta. E.J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands: 1-226.
D’Amancic A., 1954, Essais de pêche des thonidés à la senne tournante par les pecheurs yougoslaves in Tunisia.
FAO Proc.Gen.Fish.Conn.Medit., 2: 151-166.
D’Amico F.C., 1816, Osservazioni pratiche intorno alla pesca, corso e cammino de’ tonni. Società Tipografica,
Messina: 1-164.
Dean J.M., Addis P., Cau A., 2003, Sustainable fishing in the Mediterranean for Bluefin tuna: a case study of
ancestral fishing technologies and contemporary practices. Workshop on farming, Management and
conservation of bluefin Tuna, 2003, Istanbul: 102-117.
De Buen F., 1925, Biologia del Atún Orcynus thynnus (L.) Resultado de las campañas realizadas por acuerdos
internacionales. 1, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Madrid: 1-118.
De Cristoforo S., 1970, Le Tonnare Italiane. Ministero della Marina Mercantile.
De La Blanchère H., 1868, Dictionaire des Pêches. Paris: 1-378.
De la Serna M., De Metrio G., Megalofonou P., Orsi Relini L., Pla C., 1998, Study on fishing and biology of
juveniles bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) from 0-1 age class in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic.
Final Report. EC Project no. XIV/95/010.
De la Serna J. M., Ortiz de Zàrate V., Josè Gòmez M., 2001 - Actualización de los datos de marcado-recaptura
de atún rojo (Thunnus thynnus L.) en el Atlántico este y Mediterráneo. Collect.Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 52:
784-792.
De Metrio G., 2004, Rapporto finale sulla marcatura del tonno nell’ambito del programma nazionale di raccolta
dei dati alieutici. Report to: Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali, Roma.
De Metrio G., 2005, Rapporto finale sulla marcatura del tonno nell’ambito del programma nazionale di raccolta
dei dati alieutici. Report to: Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali, Roma.
1022
De Metrio G., Cacucci M., Sion L., Potoschi A., Cannavò G., Romeo T., Megalofonou P., Yannopoulos C.,
Kapirinis C., 1997, Catches of juvenile bluefin tuna and swordfish during the albacore longline fishery in
the Mediterranean. Project CE no. 94/079. Final Report: 1-45+annex: 1-34.
De Metrio G., Filanti T., Megalofonou P., Petrosino G., 1988, Valutazione sull’entità, la composizione
strutturale e la dinamica biologica degli stock dei grandi scombroidei (Thunnus thynnus (L.), Thunnus
alalunga (Bonn.), Xiphias gladius (L.), nel Golfo di Taranto. Relazione preliminare. C.N.R., Roma 10/11
Settembre 1986. Atti Seminario UU.OO. responsabili dei progetti di ricerca promossi nell’ambito dello
schema preliminare di Piano per la Pesca e l’Acquacoltura. MMM-CNR, 1: 219-255.
De Metrio G., Potoschi A., Sion L., Cacucci M., Sturiale P., 1999, Effects of the albacore (Thunnus alalunga
Bonn.) long-line fishery on the recruitment of the swordfish (Xiphias gladius L.) and the bluefin tuna
(Thunnus thynnus L.). Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2): 286-294.
De Metrio G., Arnold G.P., De la Serna J.M., Yannopoulos C., Megalofonou P., Buckley A., 2001, Further
results of tagging Mediterranean bluefin tuna with pop-up satellite detected tags. Collect. Vol., Sci. Pap.
ICCAT, 52: 776-783.
De Metrio G., Arnold G.P., De la Serna J.M., Yannopoulos C., Labini G.S., Deflorio M., Buckley A., Ortiz De
Urbina J.M., Megalofonou P., Pappalepore M., Block B., 2003a, Where do Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
(Thunnus thynnus L.) spread after the spawning in the Mediterranean Sea? Workshop on farming,
Management and conservation of bluefin Tuna, 2003, Istanbul: 96-101.
De Metrio G., Corriero A., Desantis S. Zubani D., Cirillo F., Santamaria N., Aprea A., Deflorio M., De la Serna
J.M., Megalofonou P., Bridges C.R., 2003b, Gonadal cycle of wild bluefin tuna in the western
Mediterranean and central Mediterranean. Workshop on farming, Management and conservation of
bluefin Tuna, 2003, Istanbul: 89-95.
De Metrio G., Oray I., Arnold G.P., Lutcavage M.E., Deflorio M., Cort J.L., Karakulak S., Anbar N., Ultanur
M., 2004, Joint Turkish-Italian research in the eastern Mediterranean: Bluefin tuna tagging with pop-up
satellite tags. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 56: 1163-1167.
De Metrio G., Arnold G.P., de la Serna J.M., Block B.A., Megalofonou P., Lutcavage M., Oray I., Deflorio M.,
2005, Movements of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) tagged in the Mediterranean Sea with pop-up
satellite tags. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 58: 1337-1340.
De Miranda y Riveras A., 1927, La Pesca del Atun en España. Resultado de las campañas realizadas por
acuerdos internacionales. Min. Marina, Dir. Gen. Pesca., Madrid: 1-54.
De Salas J., García Solá F., 1876, Memoria sobre la industria y la legislacion de pesca que comprende desde el
año 1870 al 1874. Imp. T. Fortanet, Madrid: 1-741.
Desse J., Desse-Berset N., 1994, Stratégies de pêche au 8e millénaire : Les poissons de Cap Andreas Kastros
(Chypre). In : Le Brun A., Fouilles récentes à Khirokitia, 3, Edit. Recherche sur les Civilisations, Paris :
335-360.
De Stefano V., 2006, Pesca del tonno rosso con il sistema « palangari » in Sicilia. Dipartimento di Economia dei
Sistemi Agro Forestali, Università di Palermo: 1-28.
De Stefano V., Van Der Heijeden P.G.M., 2007, Bluefin tuna fishing and ranghing: a difficult management
problem. Mediterranean Journal of Economics, Agriculture and Environment, CIHEAM, Bari, 2: 59-64.
Devedjian K., 1926 - Pêche et Pêcheries en Turquie. Imprimerie de l’Administration de la Dette Publique
Ottomane, Istanbul: 1-480.
Dicenta A., Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1975, Observaciones sobre la reproducción de los túnidos en las
Islas Baleares. Bol. Inst. Españ. Océano., 204: 27-37.
Dicenta A., Piccinetti C., 1977, Desove de atún (Thunnus thynnus L.) en el Mediterráneo occidental y evaluación
directa del stock de reproductores basado en la abundancia de sus larvas. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT,
7(2): 289-295.
Dicenta A., Piccinetti C., 1980, Comparison between the estimated reproductive stocks of bluefin tuna (Thunnus
thynnus) of the Gulf of Mexico and western Mediterranean. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 9(2) : 442448.
Dieuzeide R., 1931, La peche du Thon à la ligne dans la Baie de Castigione. Boll. Trav. Stat. Aquic. Peche,
Castiglione, Alger: 1-21.
Di Gregorio, F., Massoli-Novelli, R. 1992. Geological impact of some tailings dams in Sardinia, Italy. Environ.
Geol. 19: 147-153.
Di Natale A, 1988°, Miti e tradizioni fra Uomo e Pesci In: Mare Nostrum, Rainero Ed., Firenze: 61-85.
1023
Di Natale A, 1988b, I Pesci tipici dello Stretto di Messina. In: Barche, Padroni e Marinai, Sfameni Ed., Messina:
101-109.
Di Natale A, 1988c, La piccola pesca artigianale mediterranea. Un esempio: la Sicilia (Italia). VIII Semana das
Pescas dos Açores, Relatorio, Horta (Fajal): 121-137.
Di Natale A, 1989, Il mare: l'ambiente pelagico. In: Atlante della Natura in Italia. Amilcare Pizzi Ed., Cinisello
Balsamo: 158-169.
Di Natale A, 1990, Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) and Albacore (Thunnus alalunga Bon.) fishery in the
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: 1985-1989 surveys. FAO/GFCM - ICCAT Expert Consultation on large
pelagic species, Bari, Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 33: 128-134.
Di Natale A, 1991, Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) and Albacore (Thunnus alalunga Bon.) fishery in the
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: 1985-1989 surveys. GFCM - ICCAT Expert Consultation on evaluation of
stocks of large pelagic fishes in the Mediterranean area, Bari, FAO Fisheries Report No. 449, FIPL/R449:
144-157.
Di Natale A, 1999, La ricerca sulla pesca: I Grandi Pelagici. In. Le Ricerche sulla Pesca e sull'Acquacoltura
nell'Ambito della Legge 41/82. Parte 4: Relazioni. M.P.A., Roma, 1999; Biol. Mar. Medit., 7(4): 46-58.
Di Natale A, 2004a, Il ruolo degli organismi internazionali nella gestione delle risorse dell’area mediterranea. In:
Dalla conflittualità al partenariato: il ruolo della pesca nel bacino del Mediterraneo. Ismea, Roma: 135156.
Di Natale A, (ed.), 2004b, Una rete coordinata per l’acquisizione di indici di reclutamento del tonno e del
pescespada nei mari italiani., Relazione riguardante l’area del Tirreno centro-meridionale e dello Stretto
di Sicilia. 6-A-19. Rapporto alla Direzione Generale della Pesca e dell’Acquacoltura, Ministero delle
Politiche Agricole e Forestali, 100 p + all.
Di Natale A, 2007, I cambi climatici nel Mediterraneo: modificazioni della struttura della pesca e possibili
adattamenti. Cambiamenti Climatici: Conferenza Nazionale, MATTM, 20/07/2007, Brindisi: 22 p.
Di Natale A, 2008, Il tonno: una gestione incerta e problematica. In: La Tonnara tra memoria e futuro.
Favignana, 1 Giugno 2007: 8-12.
Di Natale A., D’Orazio E., Leonardi E., Mangano A., Mento A., Prestipino Giarritta S., Scuderi M.C., Sarà M.,
Magnaghi L., Podestà M., 1987, Rilevazioni delle quantità pescate e dello sforzo di pesca esercitato nei
confronti delle principali specie di Scombroidei. Rapp. Min.Mar.Merc., miméo: 1-113.
Di Natale A, D’Orazio E., Leonardi E., Mangano A., Mento A., Prestipino Giarritta S., Scuderi M.C., Sarà M.,
1988, Rilevazioni sulle quantità pescate e sullo sforzo di pesca esercitato nei confronti delle principali
specie di Scombroidei - Relazione preliminare. Atti Seminari Unità Operative responsabili dei progetti di
ricerca promossi nell'ambito dello schema preliminare di Piano per la pesca e l'acquacoltura, M.M.M. C.N.R.: 301-317.
Di Natale A, Andaloro F., Mangano A., Pederzoli A., 1989, Rapporto sulla pesca in Italia. World Wildlife Fund,
Italia, Serie Atti e Studi, 7: 1-75.
Di Natale A, Longo M., Mangano A., Navarra E., Pederzoli A., Placenti V., Schimmenti G., Valastro M., 1993 Osservazioni sulla pesca degli Scombroidei nei bacini tirrenici ed jonici occidentali. Report to Ministero
della Marina Mercantile, 218 p., 4 tavole, 16 ann.
Di Natale A, Notarbartolo di Sciara G., 1994, A review of the passive fishing nets and traps used in the
Mediterranean Sea and of their Cetacean by-catch. In: Gillnets and Cetaceans. IUCN-IWC Workshop on
Cetacean Mortality, La Jolla (USA), Oct. 1990. Rep. Int. Whal. Commn. (Special Issue), 15: 189-202.
Di Natale A., Mangano A., Navarra E., Valastro M., 1996, Osservazioni sulla pesca dei grandi Scombroidei nei
bacini tirrenici e dello Stretto di Sicilia. Report to: Direzione Generale Pesca ed Acquacoltura, Ministero
delle Risorse Agricole, alimentari e Forestali, Roma: 1-380.
Di Natale A, Mangano A.., Navarra E., Valastro M., 1998, Osservazioni sulla pesca dei grandi Scombroidei nei
bacini tirrenici e dello Stretto di Sicilia. In. Le Ricerche sulla Pesca e sull'Acquacoltura nell'Ambito della
Legge 41/82. Parte 1. M.P.A., Roma: 189-198.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., Asaro A., Bascone M., Celona A., Valastro M., Zava B., 2003, Size frequency
composition of the Bluefin Tuna catches in the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Straits of Sicily in the period
1998-2001. ICCAT/GFCM Expert Consultation, Malta, Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 55(1):171-198.
Di Natale A, Addis P., Cau A., Celona A., Cingolani N., Deflorio M., De Metrio G., Fuggetti C., Garibaldi F.,
Mangano A., Marano G., Palandri G., Piccinetti C., Relini Orsi L., 2004, Studio pilota sulla pesca
sportiva del tonno in Italia. Rapporto alla Direzione Generale Pesca del Ministero.
1024
Di Natale A, Addis P., Cau A., Celona A., Cingolani N., Deflorio M., De Metrio G., Fuggetti C., Garibaldi F.,
Mangano A., Marano G., Palandri G., Piccinetti C., Relini Orsi L., 2005a, Pilot report on tuna sport
fishing activity in Italy. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 58(4): 1360-1371.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., Asaro A., Bascone M., Celona A., Valastro M., 2005b, Bluefin tuna (Thunnus
thynnus L.) catch composition in the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Strait of Sicily in 2002 and 2003. Collect.
Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 58(4), 2005: 1296-1336.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., Celona A., 2005c, “Resident” and “Migrant” bluefin tunas (Thunnus thynnus L.) in
the Straits of Messina. Series of old and recent data. First History of Marine Animal Populations Mediterranean Workshop - CSIC, Barcelona, 20-22 Sept. 2004.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., Piccinetti C., Ciavaglia E., Celona A., 2005d, Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) line
fisheries in the Italian seas. Old and recent data. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 58(4): 1285-1295.
Di Natale A, Angelini A., Valettini B., 2006a, A responsible fishery in Europe: a must for an ancient marine
culture. (Abstract). WON-UNESCO, Third Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and islands. Paris, 2327/1/06.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., Asaro A., Bascone M., Celona A., Valastro M., Vassallo Ajus R., 2006b, Bluefin tuna
(Thunnus thynnus L.) catch composition in the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Strait of Sicily in 2004. Collect.
Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 59(3): 829-842.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., Vassallo Ajus R., 2006c, Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) size composition in cages
from the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Strait of Sicily in 2004. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 59(3): 851857.
Di Natale A, Mangano A., 2008, CPUE series (1985-2006) by gear type in the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Strait
of Sicily. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 62(4): 1128-1141.
Doneddu G., 1983, Le Tonnare in Sardegna (1500-1800). Società e Storia, Franco Angeli Edit. Milano, 6(21):
535-563.
Doumenge F., 1953, La pêche au thon dans le golfe d’Aigues-Mortes. Vie et Milieu, 4(3): 381-410.
Doumenge F., 1955 - L’évolution de la pêche à Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Centre Régional de la Productivité et des
Etudes Economiques, Montpellier, Bull. Trimestr., 12: 325-336.
Doumenge F., 1956, La pêche à Berméo (Espagne). Vie et Milieu, 7 (3): 307-325.
Doumenge F. 1998 - L’histoire des pêches thonières. ICCAT/SCRS, Col. Vol. Sci. Pap., 50: 753-802.
Doumenge F. 1999a, La storia delle pesche tonniere. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6(2): 107-148.
Doumenge F. 1999b, L’aquaculture des thons rouges et son développement économique. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6(2):
5-106.
Duclerc J., Sacchi J., Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., Dicenta A., Barrois G.M., 1973, Nouvelles donne sur
la re production du thon rouge (Thunnus thynnus L.) et d’autres espèces de thonidés en Méditerranée.
Rev. Trav. Inst. Pêche Marit., 37 (2): 163-176.
Duclerc J., Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., Dicenta A., Barrois G.M., 1974, Nouvelles donne sur la
reproduction du thon rouge et d’autres espèces de thonidés en Méditerranée. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer
Médit., 22 (7): 37.
Duhamel de Monceau H.L., 1769-1782, Traite général de Pêches et histoire des Poissons qu’elles fournissent.
Saillant & Nyon/Desaint, Paris, 4 vol.
Dumont J., 1981 - Halieutika. Recherches sur la pêche dans l’antiquité greque. Doct. Let., Paris VI, Histoire, 4
vol.: 1-1298.
Duviard D., 1992, Groix, l’île des thoniers. Atelier Alpha Bleue: 1-405.
Ely B., Stoner D.S., Bremer A.J., Dean J.M., Addis P., Cau A., Thelen E.J., Jones W.J., Black D.E., Smith L.,
Scott K., Naseri I., Quattro J.M., 2002, Analyses of nuclear IdhA gene and mtDNA control region
sequences of Atlantic northen bluefin tuna populations. Mar. Biotechnol. 4: 583-588.
Esopo F., 1592, Piscatorius. In : Aesopi Phrygis et Aliorum Fabulae. Elegantissimis Iconibus in gratiam studiose
iuventutis illustrate, pluribusq. aucte, & diligentius quam ante hac emendata. Com Indice locupletissimo.
Ioannen Fiorinam, Firenze: 282.
Fernandez Gómez F., Yaňez Polo M.A., Hurtado Rodriguez L., 2007, Las Almadrabas del Atún Rojo en Conil
de la Frontera y Aguas Atlanticas del Estrecho desde la antigűedad hasta nuestros dias. UNESCO
Proyecto Oceanus, Fundacion Toro Albalá, Còrdoba: 1-174.
Farrugio H., 1978, Estimation de la composition demografique de la pêcherie de surface au thon rouge en
Méditerranée francaise de 1969 à 1976. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 7(2): 352-354.
1025
Farrugio H., 1979 - La peche du Thon rouge en Méditerranée francaise: evolution et characteristiques.
Collect.Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 11: 235-225.
Farrugio H., 1980, Etude de l’évolution du stock du thon rouge de 1 à 12 ans en Est Atlantique et Méditerranée
de 1966 à 1978 par analyse de cohortes. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 15(2): 313-319.
Farrugio H., 1981, Exploitation et dinamique des populations de Thon rouge Thunnus thynnus (Linné, 1758)
Atlanto-Méditerranées. These de Docteur d’Etat. Academie de Montpellier, Université des Sciences et
Techniques du Languedoc : 1-206.
Ferraro S., 1986, A proposito della pesca dei Cetaresi. Appunti per la Storia di Cava, De Rosa e Memoli ed.,
Cava dei Tirreni (NA): 1-5.
Ferrandis Ballester E., Canizares S., Maynou F., Pertierra J.P., Baro J., Ortiz de Urbina Guitierrez J., Boyer G.,
Papacostantinou C., Kavadas S., Haralabous J., Georgakarakos S., Di Natale A., Diviacco G., Fortunati
L., Palandri G., Orsi Relini L., Tunesi L., 1997, Report to Task II Group. Project Fisheries Geographic
Information System (FIGIS). Report to D.G. XIV, European Commission, Brussel: 1-50.
Fonteneau A., 2009, Atlantic bluefin tuna: 100 centuries of fluctuating fisheries. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT,
63: 51-68.
Fournestin J., Dardignac J., 1962, Le thon rouge du Maroc Atlantic (Thunnus thynnus Linné). Rev. Trav., Inst.,
Pêches Marit., 26 (4): 331-398.
Frade F., 1925, Sur l’anatomie de deux poissons scombériformes : Thunnus thynnus (L.) et Auxis thazard
(Lacép.). Bull. Soc. Portugaise Sc. Nat., X(1).
Fromentin J.M., 2002a, Can stochastic variation in recruitment induce long-term fluctuation in the carrying
capacity? Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 54: 985-981.
Fromentin J.M., 2002b, Is the recruitment a key biological process in the hypothetical NAO-Atlantic tunas
relationships? Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 54(4): 1008-1016.
Fromentin J.M., 2003, Why uncertainty in the management of the East Atlantic Bluefin tuna has constantly
increased in the past few years. Scientia Marina, 67(1): 51-62.
Fromentin J.M., Fonteneau A., Farrugio H., 2000, Biological key reference points and natural long-term
fluctuations: the case of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 51(6): 2072-2084.
Fromentin J.M., Farrugio H., Deflorio M., De Metrio G., 2003, Preliminary results of aerial surveys of bluefin
tuna in the western Mediterranean Sea. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 55(3): 1019-1027.
Gaetani C., 1797, Pescaggioni. Stamp. Vescovile e Senatoria, Don F.M.Pulejo, Siracusa: 1.335.
Gaetani Marchese di Villabianca F.E., 1795, Le Tonnare di Sicilia. Re-Edited, Edizioni Giada, Palermo, 1986.
Ganiage J., 1960, Une entreprise italienne de Tunie au milieu du XIXe siècle. Correspondance commerciale de
la Thonaire de Sidi Daoud. Sources de l’histoire de la Tunisie, PUF, 2e série: 1-160.
Genovese S., 1952, Osservazioni idrologiche eseguite nella tonnare del Tono (Milazzo) durante la campagna di
pesca 1952. Boll. Pesca Piscic. Ocean. VII(2).
Genovese S., 1953a, Sui caratteri biometrici del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.) tirrenico. Boll.Pesca Piscic.Ocean.
VIII(1).
Genovese S., 1953b, Osservazioni idrologiche eseguite nella tonnara Capo San Marco (Sciacca) durante la
campagna di pesca 1953. Boll.Pesca Piscic.Ocean. VIII(2).
Genovese S., 1956a, Ulteriori osservazioni sui caratteri biometrici del Tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.) tirrenico. Il
tonno intergenetico dello Stretto di Messina. Boll. Pesca Piscic. Idrobiol., 11(1): 83-120.
Genovese S., 1956b, Il Tonno, la sua storia e la sua vita. Atti Acc. Peloritana Sc. Fis. Mat. Natur., Messina, II
(1): 1-11, 1 t.
Genovese S., 1958, Dati biometrici sul tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.) tirrenico. C.I.E.S.M., Rap. Et Proc.Verb.Réun., XIV.
Genovese S., 1959, Ami trovati in tonni (Thunnus thynnus L.) catturati in Sicilia e Calabria. Atti
Soc.Pelor.Sc.Fis.Mat.Nat., V(4).
Genovese S., 1960, Osservazioni eseguite in alcune tonnare del basso Tirreno durante la campagna di pesca
1959. Boll.Pesca Piscic.Ocean. XIV(2).
Genovese S., 1965, Dati sulla pesca all’amo del tonno nello Stretto di Messina. Boll.Pesca Piscic.Ocean. XX(1):
41-52.
Genovese S., 1980, Sul regime alimentare di Thunnus thynnus (L.). Boll. Pesca Piscic. Idrobiol., 15: 177-189.
Gesner C., 1606, Nomenclator Aquatilum Animantium IconesAnimalium in Mari et Dulcibus Aquis Degentium.
Tip. Ioannis Lancelloti, Heidelberg: 1-375.
1026
Gordillo Acosta A.M., 1984, Las torres de la almadraba de Hercules. Boletin del Museo de Cadiz, IV (19831984): 105-111.
Gordoa A., Borrego J.R., Caillart B., De La Serna J.M., Di Natale A, Franqueza R., Mazaudier L., Ordan M.,
2004, Sport fishing: an informative and economic alternative for tuna fishing in the Mediterranean
(SFITUM). Final Report. EC PR 98/0034 Report to the Direction General for Fisheries, European
Commission, 320 pp.
Gordoa A., Pilar M.P., Arevalo R., Viñas J., Molí B., Illas X., 2009, Determination of Atlantic bluefin tuna
(Thunnus thynnus) spawning time within a transport cage in the western Mediterranean. ICES Journal of
Marine Science, 65.
Grassi, B. 1913, Conflitto tra le tonnare Porto Paglia e Portoscuso contro la Società Anonima Malfidano. Ed.
Corsi e Ciarlo, Genova.
Gruvel, 1922, L’Industrie de pêches en Norvège. Notes et Memoires de l’Off. Sc. Et Tech. des Pêches Marit.,
Paris, 16.
Guaiana A., 2000, Il mare in barile. In: Ravazza N.: La terra delle Tonnare. Trapani, Pro Loco San Vito Lo
Capo.1996
Guggino E., 1977, Favignana. Aiamola. Nuove Effemeridi, Ed. Guida, Palermo, IX(34).
Guggino E., Pagano S., 1977, Mattanza, Ass. per la Conservazione delle Tradizioni Popolari, Palermo.
Heldt H., 1923, Le thon commun (Orcynus thynnus L.) en mer du Nord. Mémoires Off. Sc. Et Techn. Des
Pêches Maritimes, Paris, 22.
Heldt H., 1925, Résumé de nos connoissances actueles sur le thon rouge (Orcynus thynnus L.). Comm. Int. Pour
l’Expl. Scient. De la Médit., Rapp. Proc. Verb. des Réunions, I(n.s.).
Heldt H., 1926, Résumé de nos connoissances actueles sur le thon rouge (Thunnus thynnus L.). Bull. Sat. Océan.,
Salambô, Tunis, 5.
Heldt H., 1927, Le thon rouge, Thunnus thynnus (L.). Mise a jour de nos connaissances sur ce suject.
Bull.Stat.Océan, Salammbo (7): 1-24.
Heldt H., 1932, Le thon Rouge et sa peche. Bull. Stat. Ocean. Salammbo, 29: 1-168.
ICCAT. 2009, Report of the Independent Performance Review of ICCAT: 1-96.
ICCAT, 1997, Reort of the ICCAT SCRS Bluefin Tuna Stock Assessment Session (Genoa, Italy, September 12
to 20, 1996). 1996 Detailed Report for Bluefin Tuna. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap., ICCAT, 46(1): 1-186.
ICCAT, 1999, Report of the ICCAT SCRS Bluefin Tuna Stock Assessment Session (Genoa, Italy, September 14
to 23, 1998). Bluelfin Tuna Detailed Report. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap., ICCAT, 49(2): 1-191.
ICCAT, 2002, ICCAT Workshop on Bluefin Tuna Mixing (Madrid, Spain, September 3-7, 2001). Collect. Vol.
Sci. Pap., ICCAT, 54(2): 261-352.
Italiano C., 2006, Tonnare e tonnaredde a Milazzo. Available on: http: //spazioinwind.libero.it/gastroepato
/riservacapo6.htm
Iyigungor D., 1957, Méthods et Moyens de Pêche au Thon Actuellement en Usage en Turquie. Gen. Fish. Coun.
Medit., No. 33: 251-255.
Jones E.C., 1971, Isistius brasiliensis, a Squaloid Shark, the probable cause of crater wounds on fishes and
cetaceans. NOAA/NMFS Fish. Bull., 69: 791-798.
Jonstonius J., 1649, Historia Naturalis. De Piscibus et Cetis. Matthias Merian Ed., Frankfurt, V: 1-228.
Karakulak F.S. 1999, The Fishing Technology and the Biology of the Bluefin Tunas (Thunnus thynnus L. 1758)
in Turkish Waters, (Doctoral thesis), Istanbul University, Istanbul: 1-169.
Karakulak F.S. 2000, The trap nets in and around the Strait of Istanbul. In: Öztürk B., Kadioğlu M., Öztürk H.
(eds). “Marmara Sea 2000” Symposium, 11-12 November 2000, Istanbul Turkish Marine Research
Foundation (TUDAV), Publication Number No: 5, Istanbul: 426-435.
Karakulak S.F., 2003, Bluefin tuna fishery in Turkey. Workshop on farming, Management and conservation of
bluefin Tuna, 2003, Istanbul: 120-133.
Karakulak S., Oray I., Corriero A., Deflorio M., Santamaria N., Desantis S., De Metrio G., 2004a, Evidence of a
spawning area for the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) in the Eastern Mediterranean. J. Appl. Ichthyol.,
20: 318-320.
Karakulak S., Oray I., Corriero A., Deflorio M., Santamaria N., Desantis S., De Metrio G., 2004b, First
information on the reproductive biology of the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the eastern
Mediterranean. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 56(3): 1158-1162.
1027
Karakulak S.F., Oray I., 2009, Remarks on the fluctuation of the bluefin tuna catches in Turkish waters. Collect.
Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 153-160.
Katavic I., Ticina V., Franicevic V., 2003, Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) farming on the Croatian coasts of
the Adriatic Sea: presenta stage and future plans. Cahiers Options Mediterranean, 60: 101-106.
Kell L., Fromentin J.M., Gauthiez F., Restrepo V., 2000, A simulation framework to evaluate management
strategies for Atlantic tuna: a preliminary example based on East Atlantic bluefin tuna. Collect. Vol. Sci.
Pap. ICCAT, 51(6): 2095-2116.
Kideys A., 2004, History of marine populations in the Black Sea. Mediterranean History of Marine Animals
Populations, HMAT-MED Meeting, Barcelona, 20-22 September: 1-48.
Lalami Y., Tellai S., Barrois G.M., Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1973, Observations sur les oeufs et
larves des thonidés des côtes Algériennes. Pelagos, 4 (2) : 54-65.
Le Gall, 1926, La pêche en Norvege. Mémoires Off. Sc. Et Techn. Des Pêches Marit., Paris, 4 (Serie spec.).
Le Marhadour M., 1914, L’avenir de la pêche hauturière de thon dans la Méditerranèe. VI Congrés Nat. des
Pêches Marit., Tunis.
Lemos, R.T., Gomes, J.F., 2004, Do local environmental factors induce daily and yearly variability in bluefin
tuna (Thunnus thynnus) trap catches? Ecol. Model. 177: 143-156.
Licata P., Trombetta D., Cristani M., Naccari C., Martino D., Calò M., Naccari F., 2005, Heavy metals in liver
and muscle of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) caught in the Straits of Messina (Sicily, Italy).
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 107(1-3): 239-248.
Li Greci F., Berdar A., Riccobono F., 1991, Mattanza. Le tonnare messinesi scomparse. Edizioni G.M.B.,
Messina..
Lioka C., Kani K., Nhhala H., 2000, Present status and prospects of technical development of tuna sea farming.
Cahiers Options Méditerranéennes, 47: 275-285.
Lippi Guidi A., 1993, Tonnare. Tonnaroti e malfaraggi della Sicilia sud-orientale. Ed. Zangarastampa, Siracusa.
Liorzou B., Bigot J.L., 1991, L’exploitation du Thon rouge au large des côtes françaises de Méditerranée. Bull.
Soc. Zool. France, 114 (4): 91-100.
Liorzou B., Bigot J.L., 1995, Croissance du Thon rouge à partir des donnes des senneurs françaises
méditerranéennes. Collect. Vol. Scie., Pap. ICCAT, 44 (1): 268-282.
Liorzou B., Sacchi J., De La Serna J.M., Orsi Relini L., Palandri G., De Metrio G., Di Natale A, Yannopoulos
K., Megalofonou P., Bridges C.R., Susca V., 2001, Major improvements in our knowledge of Eastern
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean (fisheries, statistics and biology). Final Report. EU PR
97/0029. Rapporto alla D.G. XIV della Commissione Europea. Bruxelles, 250 pp.
Lo Curzio M., Sisci R., 1991, Tonnare e barche tradizionali in Sicilia. Endas Ed., Messina.
Lozano Cabo F., 1959a, Critical study on echo-sounders used for tuna detection. Proc. Tec. Pap. GFCM, Roma,
5: 91-99.
Lozano Cabo F., 1959b, The use of echo-sounders in the study of the migrations of tuna. Proc. Tec. Pap. GFCM,
Roma, 5: 101-104.
Mackenzie, B.R., Myers, R.A. 2007, The development of the northern European fishery for North Atlantic
bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus during 1900-1950. Fisheries Research. 87: 229-239.
Mackenzie B.R., Mosegaard H., Rosemberg A.A., 2009, Impeding collapse of bluefin tuna in the northeast
Atlantic and Mediterranean. Conservation Letters 2: 25-34.
Maggio T., 2001, Mattanza. Love and dead in the sea of Sicily. Penguin Books, New York: 1-263.
Manetti R., 2001, Tonnare Elbane. Alinea Ed., Firenze: 1-186.
Mariotti L., 2003, Il Tonno. Le Tonnare che parlano Genovese. Feguagiskia Studios Ed., Genova: 1-159.
Martelli, V., 1926, La Sardegna ed i Sardi. Tip. Commerciale, Cagliari: 1-266.
Mather F.J.III, 1962a, Transatlantic migrations of two large Bluefin tunas. Journal du Conseil, 27(31): 325-327.
Mather F.J.III, 1962b, A preliminary note on migratory tendencies and distributional patterns of Atlantic bluefin
tuna based on recently acquired and cumulative tagging results. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 9(2): 278290.
Mather F.J.III, Bartlett M.R., Beckett J.S., 1967, Transatlantic migrations of young bluefin tuna. Journ. Fish.
Res. Bd. Canada, 24: 9.
Mather F.J.III, Mason J.M., Jones A.C., 1974, Distribution fisheries and life history data relevant to
identification of Atlantic Bluefin tuna stock. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 2: 234-258.
1028
Mather F.J.III, Mason J.M., Jones A.C., 1995, Life History and Fisheries of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. NMFSSEFSC 370.
Mattioli A., 1568, Discorsi di M. Pietro Andrea Mattioli nelli sei libri di Pedacio Discodoride Anazarbeo della
materia Medicinale. Vincenzo Valgrisi Ed., Venezia: 1-655.
Mazzarelli, G. 1917, Conflitto fra tonnare e miniere in Sardegna. Rivista di pesca e Idrobiologia, Anno XI
(XVIII), 4: 139-163.
Mazzarelli G., 1935, Programmi vecchi e nuovi per lo studio del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). Mem. Biol.Mar.
Ocean., Messina, III(app.).
McDowell J.R., Diaz-Jaimes P., Graves J.E., 2002, Isolation and characterization of seven tetranucleotide
microsatellite loci from Atlantic Northen bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus thynnus. MEN 2: 214-216.
Medina A., Abascal F.J., Megina C., Garcia A., 2002, Stereological assessment of the reproductive status of
female Atlantic northern bluefin tuna during migrations to Mediterranean spawning grounds through the
Strait of Gibraltar. Journal of Fish Biology, 60: 203-217.
Merino J.M., 1991, La pesca desde la preistoria hasta nuestros dias. Departamento de Agricultura y Pesca,
Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz: 1-494.
Mert I., Oray I.K., Patrona K., Karakulak F.S., Kayabaşı Y., Gündoğdu M., Miyake P., 2000, Historical review
of Turkish bluefin tuna fisheries and their development. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 51(3): 813-826.
Militello R., 1937, Industrie trapanesi. Le Tonnare. In: Opere Pubbliche. Rassegna dello Sviluppo dell’Italia
Imperiale. Terra Trapanese nelle realizzazioni fasciste. VII(3-4).
Miyake P.M., de la Serna J.M., Di Natale A, Farrugia A., Katavic I., Miyabe N., Ticina V., 2003, General review
of bluefin tuna farming in the Mediterranean area. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 55(1): 114-124.
Mondardini G., 1999, La Tonnara nella cultura marinara. In: Civiltà del Mare. Ed. ICIMAR, Olbia, X(2).
Mongitore A., 1743, La Sicilia più ricercata nelle cose più memorabili. Palermo (2 vol.).
Morovic D., 1961, Contribution à la connaissance de la nutrition du thon rouge (Thunnus thynnus L.) dans
l’Adriatique, d’après les prises faites à la senne tournate. FAO-GFCM Tech. Pap. Gen. Fish. Couns.
Medit., 6: 155-159.
Mouton P., 2004, Le thon de la Méditerranée. Edisud, Aix-en-Provence: 1-140.
Naccari F.L., 1827, Prodromus observationus et disquisitionum Adriaticae Ichthyologiae. Giornale di Fisica,
Chimica e Storia Naturale, bim.1 1-23.
Neuparth A.E., 1925, Note sur les fluctuations de la pêche du Thon (Thunnus thynnus L.) sur la côte du Portugal.
Rapp. Proc. Verb., Conseil Permanent International pour l’Exploration de la mer. Andr. Fred. Host et
Fils, Copenhagen, 35: 51-56.
Ninni E., 1917, La pesca nell’Adriatico. Ministero Industria, Comm. E Lavoro, Sez. Pesca, Roma.
Ninni E., 1921a, La comparsa del tonno nel mare e nelle lagune di Venezia e revisione del Gruppo Tonni per
l’Adriatico. Regio Comit. Talass. Ital., Venezia.
Ninni E., 1921b, La pesca in Libia, Eritrea e Somalia. Regio Comit. Talass. Ital., Venezia.
Ninni E., 1922, La migrazione del tonno nei mari di Levante. Boll. Bimestr. R. Com. Talass. Ital., 11: 109–116.
Northridge S., Di Natale A., 1991, The environmental effects of fisheries in the Mediterranean. Report to:
European Commission's Directorate General for the Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection,
EEC, Brussels: 1-48.
Northridge S., Di Natale A., Kinze C., Lankester K., Ortiz de Zárate V., Sequeira M., 1991, Gillnet fisheries in
the European Community and their impacts on the marine environment. Report to: European
Commission's Directorate General for the Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection, EEC,
Brussels: 1- 95.
Oppianus, 177 b.C., Alieuticon. In: Salvini A.M., 1738, Della Caccia e della Pesca. Firenze: 1-510.
Oray I.K., Karakulak F.S., 2005, Further evidence of spawning of bluefın tuna (Thunnus thynnus thynnus L.,
1758) and the tuna species (Auxis rochei Ris., 1810, Euthynnus alletteratus Raf., 1810) in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea: preliminary results of TUNALEV larval survey in 2004. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 21, 236240.
Oray I., Karakulak S., Alıçlı Z., Ateş C., Kahraman A., 2005, First evidence of spawning in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea: preliminary results of TUNALEV larval survey in 2004. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap.
ICCAT, 58(4): 1341-1347.
Oren O.H., Ben Tuvia A., 1954, Fishing trip for Tuna. Fishermen’s Bull., Haifa, 1: 10-14. GFCM, Proc. Et Tech.
Pap., 5(36): 269-279.
1029
Oren O.H., Ben Tuvia A., 1959, Experimental tuna fishing cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean. GFCM, Proc. Et
Tech. Pap., 5(36): 269-279.
Orsi Relini L., Garibaldi F., Palandri G., Cima C., Relini M., Torchia G., 1993, Valutazione degli stocks di
grandi Scombroidei e dell’incidenza su di essi dell’attività di pesca nel mar Ligure. Final report 19901993. Ministero Marina Mercantile, Roma.
Orsi Relini L., Garibaldi F., Palandri G., Cima C., 1994, La comunità mesopelagica ed i predatori “di
superficie”. Biol. Mar. Medit., 1 (1): 105-111.
Orsi Relini L., Palandri G., Relini M., Cima C., Garibaldi F., Torchia G., 1995, Seasonal growth in young
bluefin tuna in the Ligurian Sea. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 46: 122-128.
Orsi Relini L., Cima C., Palandri G., Relini M., Garibaldi F., 1999a, Feeding of the juvenile bluefin tuna in the
offshore pelagic ecosystem of the Ligurian Sea. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2): 295-302.
Orsi Relini L., Garibaldi F., Palandri G., Cima C., Relini M., Torchia G., 1996b, Grandi Pelagici del mar Ligure.
Final report 1994-1995. Ministero delle Risorse Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali, Roma.
Orsi Relini L., Palandri G., Relini M., Cima C., Garibaldi F., Torchia G., 1999a, Accrescimento del tonno rosso
giovanile nel Mar Ligure. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2): 236-242.
Ottolenghi F., Cerasi S., 2008, Il Tonno rosso nel Mediterraneo. Biologia, Pesca, Allevamento e Gestione.
Unimar, Roma: 1-141.
Parona C., 1898, La pesca Marittima in Liguria. Atti Soc. Ligustica Sc. Nat., Genova, vol. IX: 1-69.
Parona C., 1919, Il Tonno e la sua pesca. R. Comit. Talass. Ital., Venezia, Mem. LXVIII: 1-259.
Parthenii N., 1689, Halieutica. Off. Jacobi Raillard, Napoli: 1-148.
Pavesi P., 1887, Le migrazioni del Tonno. Rendiconti dell’Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, Milano, 2:
311-324.
Pavesi P., 1889, L’industria del Tonno. Relazione alla Commissione Reale per le Tonnare. Min. Agric. Indust.
Comm., Roma, Tip. Eredi Botta: 1-254.
Piccinetti C., 1973, Stades larvaires et juveniles des thons en Adriatique. Ichthyologia, 5(1) : 129-134.
Piccinetti C., 1980a, L’allevamento del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.): situazione in Italia ed in Giappone. Nova
Thalassia, 4(suppl): 127-140.
Piccinetti C., 1980b, La pêche du thon rouge an filet tournant en Adriatique. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 11:
232-237.
Piccinetti C., 1995, Activités réalisées en Italie en accord au programme « ICCAT BYP Survey of Bluefin Tuna
Larvae ». Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 44(1): 330-332.
Piccinetti, C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1970, Osservazioni sulla biologia dei primi stadi giovanili del tonno
(Thunnus thynnus L.). Boll. Pesca Piscic. Idrobiol., 25: 223–247.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., Dicenta A., 1977, Premières pêches quantitatives de larves de Thonidae en
Adriatique. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer. Médit., 24: 5-8.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1979, Larve di Tunnudi in Adriatico. Nova Thalassia, 3 (Suppl.): 163-173.
Piccinetti C., Farrugio H., 1980, Validité des captures de thon rouge a la senne tournate en Méditerranée,
considerées comme index d’abondance. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 9(2): 427-432.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrinn G., 1980, La riproduzione del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.). Mem. Biol. Mar.
Ocean., X (Suppl.): 255-258.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., Dicenta A., 1981a, Données sur la mortalité des premiers stades de vie des
thonidés. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer Médit., 27 (5) : 161-164.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., Dicenta A., 1981b, Nouvelles données sur la reproduction des thonidés en
Méditerranée. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer. Médit., 27 (5): 165-166.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1992, La riproduzione dei Tunnidi in Mediterraneo. Biologia Marina, suppl.
Notiziario SIBM, 1: 325-328.
Piccinetti Manfrin G., Marano G., De Metrio G., Piccinetti C., 1995, An attempt to find eggs and larvae of
bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Black Sea. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT 44(1): 316-317.
Piccinetti C., Omiccioli H., 1999, Contribution à la connaissance des captures du thon rouge par les madragues.
Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 49(2): 444-455.
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1999, Evolution de la peche du thon rouge en Adriatique. Collect. Vol. Sci.
Pap. ICCAT, 49(2): 226-228.
1030
Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., Soro S., 1999, Larve di Tunnidi in Mediterraneo. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2):
229-235.
Plinius C.S., 65 AD? (re-edited in 1553), Historia Mundi. Naturalis Historia. Ed. Antonio Vicentino, Ludguni: 1882.
Pommereau G., 1955, Evolution de la pêche au thon. La Pêche Maritime, 933: 605-609.
Ponsich M., Tarradel M., 1965, Garum et industries antiques antiques de salaison dans la Méditerranée
occidentale. Bibl. Ec. Hist. Et. Hispan., PUF, Paris, 36: 1-36.
Potoschi A., Sturiale P., 1999, La pesca del tonno all’amo nello Stretto di Messina nell’ultimo secolo. Biol. Mar.
Medit., 6 (2): 223-228.
Powell, J. 1996, Fishing in the Prehistoric Aegean. Studies in Mediterranean Archaelogy and Literature, pocket
book n. 136, Paul Åströms Förlag, Jonsered, Sweden: 1-266.
Pugnatore G.F., 1595, Historia di Trapani. Re-Edit. Costanzo S., 1984 - Ed. Corrao, Trapani.
Purpura G., 1989, Pesca e stabilimenti antichi per la lavorazione del pesce in Sicilia: III Torre Vendicari (Noto),
Capo Ognina (Siracusa). Sicilia Archeologica, anno XXII (69-70): 25-37.
Purpura G., 1992, Pesca e stabilimenti antichi per la lavorazione del pesce nella Sicilia occidentale: IV: un
bilancio. Atti V Rassegna Archeologia Subacquea, Giardini Naxos, 19-21 Ottobre 1990: 87-101.
Ravazza N., 1999, I cancelli del mare. In: Navis, Istiaen Ed., Chioggia, 1.
Ravazza N. (ed.), 2000, La terra delle Tonnare. Pro Loco San Vito Lo Capo, Trapani.
Ravazza N., 2002, Le tonnare di Cetaria. In: La Sicilia Ricercata. Bruno Leopardi Edit., Palermo.
Ravazza N., 2003, Il tonno fatato. In: De Muro G., Doz N., Gente di Tonnara. Fondazione Banco di Sardegna,
Sassari.
Ravazza N., 2004, L’ultima Muciara. Storia della Tonnara di Bonagia. Giuseppe Maurici Ed., Trapani: 1-106.
Ravazza N., 2005, Diario di Tonnara. Magenes Ed. Milano: 1-330.
Ravier-Mailly C., 2003, Fluctuation à long terms du thon rouge. Validité, origines et conséquences. These, Ecole
Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Rennes, 2003-16, H50 : 1-177.
Ravier C., Fromentin J.M., 2004, Are the long-term fluctuations in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)
population related to environmental changes? Fish. Oceanogr. 13: 145–160.
Relini M., Palandri G., Torchia G., 1995, Tagging of Thunnus thynnus juveniles in the Ligurian Sea, Autumn
1994. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 44(1): 378.
Repetto N., Ugolini R., Bertolino F., Cerasi S., 2001, prove di allevamento del tonno rosso (Thunnus thynnus):
prove di stoccaggio ed ingrasso; operazioni di stabulazione e gestione di uno stock di riproduttori.
Unimar, final report to Ministero dello Politiche Agricole, Alòimentari e Forestali.
Rey J. C., 1979, Interrelations des populations de thon rouge (Thunnus thynnus) entre l’Atlantique et la
Méditerranée. Actes Coll. CNEXO, 8: 87-103.
Rey J.C., 1982, Considerations on the migrations of tunas in relation to the hydrology of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 18(3): 758-764.
Rey J.C., 1999, Migraciones entre el Atlántico y el Mediterráneo a traves del Estrecho de Gibraltar y
consideraciones hidrológicas. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6(2): 220-222.
Rey J.C., Cort J.L., 1986, The tagging of the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Mediterranean: history and
analysis. CIESM: 1-2.
Richards W.S., 1976, Spawning of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas.
Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 5(2): 267-278.
Rivas L.R., 1976, Age composition anomalies as evidence for transoceanic migrations by intermediate age
groups of the North Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 6(2): 270280.
Rivas L.R., 1978, Preliminary model of annual life history cycles of the North Atlantic bluefin tuna. In: The
physiological ecology of tunas. Sharp G.D., Dizon A.E. (Eds.), Academic Press, San Francisco, CA,
USA: 369-393.
Rodríguez-Marín E., Ortiz de Urbina J.M., Alot E., Cort J.L., De la Serna J.M., Macias D., Rodríguez-Cabello
C., Ruiz M., Valeiras X., 2009, Following bluefin tuna cohorts from east Atlantic Spanish fisheries since
the 1980s. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 121-132.
Rodriguez Santamaria B., 1923, Diccionario de Artes de Pesca de España y sus posesiones. Sucesores de
Rivadeneyra, Madrid: 1-332.
1031
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1959, Aparicíon en la costa sud-atlántica española de atunes marcados en Noruega.
Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, XIV: 115-119.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1964a, Biologia del atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), de la costa sudatlántica de España.
Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 25: 33-146.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1964b, Talla, peso y edad de los atunes, Thunnus thynnus (L.), capturados por la almadraba
de Barbate (costa sudatlántica de España) en 1963 y comparación con el período 1956 a 1962.
Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, XXVI: 3-47.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1966a, El atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), de la costa sud-atlántica de España en la campaña
almadrabera del año 1964 y consideraciones sobre las fluctuaciones periódicas. Investigación Pesqueras,
Barcelona, XXX: 9-35.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1966b, Estudio de los atunes, Thunnus thynnus (L.), capturados en 1965 por la almadraba de
Barbate (costa sudatlántica de España). Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, XXX: 483-496.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1967a, Fecundidad del atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), de la costa sudatlántica de España.
Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 31(1): 33-52.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1967b, El atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), del sur de España, en la campaña almadrabera del año
1966. Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 31(2): 349-359.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1969a, El atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), del sur de España, en la campaña almadrabera del año
1967, y estudio de la evolución de la pesquería de Barbate. Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 33(1): 8796.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1969b, Resultados de nuestras marcaciones de atunes en el golfo de Cádiz durante los años
1960 a 1967. Publ. Tecn. Junta de Estudios de Pesca, 8: 153-158.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1969c, Los atunes jóvenes y el problema de sus capturas masivas. Publ. Tecn. Junta de
Estudios de Pesca, 8: 159-162.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1970a, El atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), del sur de España en la campaña almadrabera del año
1968 y su relacíon con la temperatura del agua del mar. Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 34(2): 157170.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1970b, El atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), del sur de España en la campaña almadrabera del año
1969 y su relación con la temperatura y transparencia del agua del mar. Investigación Pesqueras,
Barcelona, 34(2): 503-514.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1975, Expedición científica para la identificación de zonas de puesta del atún, Thunnus
thynnus (L.) (Campaña “Maroc-Iberia, I” del “Cornide de Saavedra”). Res. Exp. Cient. Buque Ocean.
“Cornide de Saavedra”, Barcelona, 4: 113-130.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1977, Análisis de la población de atunes, Thunnus thynnus (L.), capturados por la almadraba
de Barbate (Golfo de Cádiz) durante los años 1963 a 1975. Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 41(2):
263-273.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1980a, Nueva rutas en las migraciones transatlanticas del atùn. Iberica, Actualidad
Cientifica, 207: 8-10.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1980b, Evolución de la pesquería del atún, Thunnus thynnus (L.), del golfo de Cádiz en el
período 1976 a 1979. Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 44(2): 369-375.
Rodriguez-Roda J., 1983, La función alométrica aplicada al crecimiento diferencial en el atún, Thunnus thynnus
(L.). Estudio de las poblaciones de atunes de ambas orillas del Atlántico Norte y del Mediterráneo.
Investigación Pesqueras, Barcelona, 47(2): 171-202.
Rooker J.R., Secor D.H., Zdanowicz V.S., De Metrio G., Relini L., 2003, Identification of Atlantic bluefin tuna
(Thunnus thynnus) stocks from putative nurseries using otholith chemistry. Fish. Oceanogr., 12 (2): 7584.
Rooker J.R.,Alvarado Bremer J.R., Block B.A., De Metrio G., Corriero A., Kraus R.T., Prince E.D., RodriguezMarin E., Secor D.H., 2007, Life History and Stock Structure of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus
thynnus). Review in Fishery Science, 15 : 265-310.
Roule L., 1913, Observations sur la migration reproductrice du thon commun (Orcynus thynnus L.). Bull. Mus.
D’Hist. Natur., Paris.
Roule L., 1914a, La biologie et la pêche du thon dans la Méditerranée occidentale. Revue Générale des Sciences
pures et appliquées, Paris, 25.
Roule L., 1914b, Etude préliminaire sur la biologie et la pêche du thon commun (Orcynus thynnus L.) dans la
Méditerranée occidentale. VI Congrés Nat. Des Pêches Maritimes, Tunis.
1032
Roule L., 1916a, Sur la migration et la pêche du thon sur not côtes de méditerranéennes. Comp. Ren. Acad. Des
Sciences, Paris, 163.
Roule L., 1916b, Observations sur la sténothermie du thon commun. Comp. Rend. De la Soc. De Biologie, Paris,
79.
Roule L., 1917a, Etude sur les aires de ponte et les déplacements périodiques du thon commun (Orcynus thynnus
L.) dans la Méditerranée occidentale. Annales Inst. Océan., Paris, VII-7.
Roule L., 1917b, La disparition périodique du thon (Orcynus thynnus L.) dans le golfe du Lion pendant l’année
1916. Bull. Mus. D’Hist. Natur., Paris, 6.
Roule L., 1917c, Sur l’habitat du thon commun (Orcynus thynnus L.) et ses déplacements littoraux dans la
Méditerranée occidentale. Comp. Rend. Acad. Des Sciences, Paris, 165.
Roule L., 1918, Considérations sur la biologie du thon commun (Orcynus thynnus L.). Bull. Inst. Océan.,
Monaco, 348.
Roule L., 1919, Remarques sur quelques particularitiés biologiques des scombridés de nos côtes. Bull. de la Soc.
Zool. De France, Paris.
Roule L., 1921, Sur les changements périodiques du thon commun (Orcynus thynnus) et sur leur liason avec les
conditions du mileu. Com. Rend. Acad. Des Scien., Paris, 173.
Roule L., 1922, Les poissons migrateurs, leur vie et leur pêche. Ed. Flammarion, Paris.
Roule L., 1923, Considerations sur l’ecologie abyssale des alevins de thon. Communication au Congrès de Paris,
Comm.Int.Expl.de la Mer.
Roule L., 1924a, Variation de la pêche du thon rouge sur les cotes de la Tunisie. Communication au Congrès des
Societés Savantes, Dijon.
Roule L., 1924b, Etude sur les déplacements et la pêche du thon en Tunisie et dans la Méditerranée occidentale.
Off. Scient. Tech. Pêche Marit., Paris, Notes et Mém., 39 : 1-39.
Roule L., 1926a, Etude complèmentaire sur le thon de Tunise. Ann. Stat. Océan. Salammbo, 2.
Roule L., 1926b, Sur les déplacemens du thon rouge (Orcynus thynnus L.) dan le bassin occidental de la
Méditerranée. Comp. Rend. Acad. Scien., 183(20).
Rubino S., 1995, La Tonnara Saline. La Celere ed., Alghero.
Safina C., 2001, Tuna conservation, In Tuna. Physiology, ecology, and evolution, Block BA, Stevens ED (Eds.).
Fish Physiology Series, vol. 19. Academic Press, San Diego, CA: 413-459.
Sancho de Sopranis H., 1948, Los Genoveses en la region gaditano-xericense de 1460 a 1600. Hispania, 8: 355402.
Sañez Reguart A., 1791, Diccionario Histórico de los Artes de la Pesca Nacional. Imp. Joaquim Ibarra, Madrid,
t.1: 1-406.
Sanz Brau A., 1990, Sur la nourriture des jeunes thons rouges Thunnus thynnus (L., 1758) des Côtes du Golfe de
Valence. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer Médit., 32 (1): 274.
Salmieri A., 2008, San Giorgio; Storia di un borgo e la sua Tonnara. Pungitopo Ed., Marina di Patti (ME): 1-149.
Sanzo L., 1909, Uova e larve di Scomberoidi. Boll. Min. Agric. Ind. Comm., Roma, 8(B).
Sanzo L., 1910, Studi sulla biologia del tonno (Orcynus thynnus L.). Riv. Mens. Pesca Idrobiol., Pavia (5).
Sanzo L., 1932, Uova e primi stadi larvali di tonno (Orcynus thynnus L.). Mem. Reale Com. Talass. Ital., 189 :
1-16.
Sarà R., 1963, Donnés, observations et commentaires sur la présence, le comportement, les characteristiques et
les migrations des thons en Méditerranés. FAO, Proc. Gen. Fish. Couns. Medit., 7: 371-388.
Sarà R., 1964, Data, observations and comments on the occurrence, behaviour, characteristics and migrations of
tunas in the Mediterranean. Proc. Tech. Pap., GFCM, 7: 371-388.
Sarà, R., 1973, Sulla biologia dei tonni (Thunnus thynnus L.) modelli di migrazione e di comportamento.
Bolletino di Pesca, Piscicoltura e Idrobiologia, 28: 217-243.
Sarà, R., 1980, La pêche du thon au thonaire en Méditerranée.Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 9: 129-144.
Sarà R., 1983, Tonni e Tonnare. Libera Università di Trapani Ed., Trapani: 1-128.
Sarà R., 1988, Dal mito all’aliscafo. Storie di Tonni e Tonnare. Banca Aegusea Ed., Favignana-Palermo.
Sarmiento, F. M., 1757, De los atunes y sus transmigraciones y conjesturas sobre la decadencia de las
almadrabas y sobre los medios para restituirlas. Reprint: Caixa de Pontevedra, Madrid.
Scaccini A., 1951, Indagini intorno alla pesca del tonno nelle acque del Compartimento Marittimo di Rimini
(Relazione). Bollettino di Pesca, 11/12: 2-8.
1033
Scaccini A., 1953, La campagna di studio della biologia e della pesca dei giovani tonni nell’Adriatico compiuta
dal Laboratorio di Biologia Marina di Fano nell’estate
Scaccini A., 1965, Biologia e pesca dei tonni dei mari italiani. Mem. Min. Mar. Merc., 12: 1-100.1952.
Bollettino di Pesca, 1: 1-11.
Scaccini A., 1963, Quelques notes ecologiques sur les thons génetiques de la Sardaigne. CIESM, Rap. Poroc.
Verb., XVII (2)367-369.
Scaccini A., 1966, Studio dei caratteri differenziati dei primi stadi di alcune specie di tunnidi. Arch. Zool. Ital.,
LI (II) : 1053-1061.
Scaccini A., 1968a, Etude des characteractères différentiels des premiers stades dans diffèrent espèces de
Thonidés. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer Médit., 19 (2) : 311-312.
Scaccini A., 1973, Rapport sur les Thonides méditerranéens pour les années 1968-1969. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer
Médit., 21 (10) : 739-740.
Scaccini A., Biancalana T., 1959, Les methodes de peche au thon en Italie et la pêche pelagique au filet tournant.
FAO Proc. Gen. Fish. Comm. Médit., 5: 465-473.
Scaccini A., Paccagnella V., 1965a, Observations sur l’approchement a la côte des thons pendant la période de
course en rapport a la pêche par les madragues. CIESM, Rapp. Proc. Verb., XVIII (2) : 201-206.
Scaccini A., Paccagnella V., 1965b, Considerations sur les tendances de la pêche du thon par les madragues
italiennes. Proc. GFCM, 8: 391-394.
Scaccini A., Sarà R., Piccinetti C., Piccinetti Manfrin G., 1975, Uova e larve di tonno pescate nella Sicilia
occidentale e loro allevamento. D.G. Pesca Marittima ed Acquacoltura, Ministero della Marina
Mercantile, Roma, Mem. 39: 1-120.
Scordia C., 1925, Le condizioni fisico-biologiche delle acque della tonnara del Tono (Milazzo) durante la
campagna di pesca del 1929. Boll. Ist. Zool. Univ. Messina, 4.
Scordia C., 1930, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XVI. Osservazioni eseguite nella tonnara del
Tono (Milazzo, Sicilia) e dell’Angitola (Pizzo, Calabria) durante il mese di Giugno del 1929. Mem. Biol.
Mar. Ocean., Messina, I(1).
Scordia C., 1931, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XVI. Osservazioni eseguite nella tonnara di
Bivona (Vibo Valentia Marina, Calabria) nel Maggio- Giugno del 1930. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean.,
Messina, I(3).
Scordia C., 1933, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). IV. Osservazioni eseguite nelle tonnare di
Bivona e di Pizzo (Calabria) nel Maggio-Giugno 1931. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, II(2).
Scordia C., 1934a, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). V. Osservazioni eseguite nella tonnara di
Bivona (Calabria) nel Giugno 1932, con riferimenti alle tonnare di Pizzo e di Mezzapraia. Mem. Biol.
Mar. Ocean., Messina, III(1).
Scordia C., 1934b, Ulteriori osservazioni sui tonni dello Stretto di Messina. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina,
III(2).
Scordia C., 1934c, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). VII. Ricerche preliminari sulla quantità e
sulla distribuzione delle sostanze grasse contenute nelle gonadi e nel fegato dei tonni intergenetici. Mem.
Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, III(3).
Scordia C., 1935a, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). VIII. Osservazioni sui tonni dello Stretto di
Messina eseguite nell’annata 1934-35. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, IV(2).
Scordia C., 1935b, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). X. Sul percorso di ritorno dei tonni genetici
dal mare Jonio. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, IV(5).
Scordia C., 1936a, Su alcune recenti pubblicazioni sulla biologia del Tonno. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina,
II(suppl).
Scordia C., 1936b, Gli ami per la pesca del tonno in uso nello Stretto di Messina. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean.,
Messina, IV(1), suppl.
Scordia C., 1936c, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). IX. Brevi osservazioni eseguite in una
tonnara di Pizzo (Calabria) in Giugno 1934. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, IV(4).
Scordia C., 1937a, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XII. Intorno al passaggio dei tonni di corsa
dal Tirreno nel Jonio attraverso lo Stretto di Messina. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, V(5).
Scordia C., 1937b, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XIII. La quantità delle sostanze grasse
contenute nel fegato e nelle gonadi nei vari periodi del ciclo genetico. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina,
V(6).
1034
Scordia C., 1937c, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XIV. Osservazioni eseguite in una tonnara di
ritorno (Santa Panagia, Siracusa) nel Luglio 1935. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, V(7).
Scordia C., 1938a, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XV. Le migrazioni dei tonni entro il
Mediterraneo. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, 1938.
Scordia C., 1938b, Ricerche sull’età del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.) eseguite mediante lo studio delle squame..
Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, V(10).
Scordia C., 1939a, Notizie sulla migrazione dei tonni del basso Adriatico. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina,
VI(1).
Scordia C., 1939b, Per la biologia del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.). XVI. Osservazioni eseguite in una tonnara di
ritorno (Santa Panagia, Siracusa) nel Luglio 1936. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, VI(3).
Scordia C., 1939c, La biologia del tonno secondo Le Danois. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, VI(4).
Scordia C., 1940a, Il prodotto delle grandi pesche primaverili ed estivo-autunnali nello Stretto di Messina ed
adiacenze tirreniche durante il 1939. Boll.Pesca Piscic. Ocean. 4.
Scordia C., 1940b, Le migrazioni dei tonni Jonici e la entrata di essi in tonnara. Atti 2* Conv.Biol: Mar.e
Applic., Messina, 1939.
Sechi V., 1918, Tonnare e mattanze Sarde. Touring Club Ital., Maggio 1918: 101-106.
Sella M., 1924, Caratteri differenziali dei giovani stadi di Orcynus thynnus L., O. alalonga, Auxis bisus Bp. Atti
R. Accad. Dei Lincei, Roma, t. 33.
Sella M., 1926a, Altri fatti sopra la migrazione dei tonni accertati per mezzo degli ami. Rend. Reale Accad. Dei
Lincei, Roma, IV, ser.6, 2 sem.(5-6): 223-227.
Sella M., 1926b, Le migrazioni dei tonni studiate per mezzo degli ami. Atti R. Accad. Dei Lincei, Roma, III,
ser.6, 1 sem.(II): 696-700.
Sella M., 1927, Les migrations des thons étudiées par le moyen des hameçons. Bull. Trav. Pub. Stat. Aquicul.
Pêche, Castiglione, 2 : 101-136.
Sella M., 1929a, Migrazioni ed habitat del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.) studiati col metodo degli ami, con
osservazioni sull’accrescimento, sul regime delle tonnare, ecc. Mem. R.Com.Talass.Ital., 16: 3-24.
Sella M., 1929b, Biologia e pesca del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.). Atti Conv. Biol. Mar. Appl. Pesca, Messina,
Giugno 1928: 3-32.
Sella M., 1930, Distribution and migrations of the tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) studied by the method of hooks,
and other observations. Internationale Revue des gesamenten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie, 24 (5/6):
445-466.
Sella M., 1931, The tuna (Thunnus thynnus L.) of the Western Atlantic. An appeal to fishermen for the collection
of hooks found in tuna fish. Internationale Revue des gesamenten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie, 25
(1/2): 46-47.
Sella M., 1932, Sulle migrazioni del tonno (Thunnus thynnus L.). Conv. Biol., Napoli: 103-136.
Sella M., 1933, Il Tonno. Note Ist. Biol. Rovigno, Trieste, 3: 1-24.
Sion L., Cacucci M., De Metrio G., 1999, Young and adult bluefin tunas (Thunnus thynnus L.) caught by Italian
purse-seines during the 1995 fishing season. Biol. Mar. Medit., 6 (2): 303-310.
Sole P.A., 1965, Los Picaros de Conil Y Zahara. Ed. Jerez Industrial, Jerz de la Frontera: 1-83.
Sorell Baron J.M., 2010, in press, Technical report on aerial surveys of the West Mediterranean bluefin tuna
during spawning season when the fishery is already closed. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 65.
Spagnolio E., 1938, Ricerche sull’età del tonno (Thunnus thynnus, L.) eseguite mediante lo studio delle squame.
XVI. Mem. Biol. Mar. Ocean., Messina, V(10).
Susca V., Corriero A., Bridges C.R., De Metrio G., 2001, Study of the sexual maturity of female bluefin tuna:
purification and partial characterisations of vitellogenin and its use in an enzyme-linked immunosorben
assay. J. Fish. Biol., 58: 815-831.
Takagi M., Okamura T., Chow S., Tanaguchi N., 1999, PCR primers for microsatellite loci in tuna species of the
genus Thunnus and its application for population genetic study. Fish. Sci. 65: 571-576.
Takeuchi Y., Oshima K., Suzuki Z., 2009, Inference on nature of Atlantic bluefin tuna off Brazil caught by the
Japanese fishery around the early 1960s. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 186-194.
Tangen M., 2009, The Norwegian fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 63: 79-93.
Tekin O., 2000, Golden Horn and the Tunas of Istanbul. Istanbul Dergisi, Sayı 32 Golden Horn, Istanbul: 92-94.
1035
Trousset P., 1990, La vie littorale et les ports dans la petite Syrte à l’époque romaine. 115e Congr. Nat. Soc. Sav.
Avignon, Ve Coll. sur l’Hist. et l’Archéol. de l’Afrique du Nord: 317-332.
Valle R., 1800, I Tonni. Stamperia Reale, Cagliari : 1-94.
Vella A., 2009, Historical landing statistics, size, sex and microsatellite analyses of bluefin tuna (Thunnus
thynnus) in the central-southern Mediterranean sea. Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT., 63: 161-173.
Volpi Lisjak B., 1996, La spettacolare pesca del tonno attraverso i secoli nel Golfo di Trieste. Mladika Ed.,
Trieste.
Zaitsev Y., 2003, Bluefin tuna in the Black Sea. Workshop on farming, Management and conservation of bluefin
Tuna, 2003, Istanbul: 118-119.
Zaitsev Y., Mamaiev V., 1997, Biological diversity in the Black Sea. A study of change and decline. United
Nations Publications, Black Sea Environment Series, 3: 1-204.
1036
Table 1. Overview of the available knowledge on the tuna traps noticed in the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent
areas in 1899 and 1919.
Pavesi, 1899
Country
Parona, 1919
1919/1899
Active
Inactive
Total
Active
Inactive
Total
Variation
26
0
26
26
0
26
0
0
1
31
0
31
+3100%
41
99
140
51
81
131
-6.4%
5
21
26
10
21
31
+19.2%
6
24
30
9
13
22
-26.7%
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Algeria
0
2
2
1
0
1
-50%
Tunisia
1
2
3
1
1
2
-33.3%
Libya
0
0
0
2
0
2
200
Malta
2
1
3
2
1
3
0
Total Mediterranean
81
150
231
133
116
249
7.8%
Spain (Atlantic coast)
9
2
11
8
13
21
90.9%
14
10
24
15
6
21
-12.5%
104
162
266
156
135
291
9.4%
Turkey
E. Adriatic
1
Italy
France
Spain (Mediterranean coast)
Morocco
2
Portugal
Total tuna traps
1/
2/
It was decided to use “East Adriatic” to include all the tuna traps noticed in various countries of that coast, because the
mane and boundaries were modified many times over the last century.
It seems that Morocco had some active tuna traps at that time, but this information was not included in the reviews
from Pavesi and Parona and it is possibly included in some Portuguese archives.
Figure 1. The engravings of tuna and dolphins along the walls of the Genovese’s Cave in the Isle of Levanzo
(Egadi Isle, western Sicily, Italy), 9,200 B.C.
1037
Figures 2 and 3. Tuna market depicted on a Sicilota pottery (IV B.C.)
Figure 4a (left) and 4b (right). Detailed maps showing the location of the various tuna traps in the different
countries of the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent areas (Parona, 1919).
1038
Figure 5. The typical migration of bluefin tuna in the Black Sea, the Bosphorus and the eastern Mediterranean
(Sarà, 1963).
Figure 6. The fluctuation of fish abundance in the Black Sea according to the data from the Bulgarian fishery.
The catch curve concerning bluefin tuna is marked as 1 (from: Zaitsev & Mamaiev, 1997).
1039
Figure 7. The most typical composition of bluefin tuna schools during the spawning season in the 1980s. A:
cone-shaped formation; B: scale formation; C: caravan formation, having most of the individual spawning at the
surface. p: pilot specimens. (Arena, 1982).
Figure 8. Main migratory courses of the bluefin tuna inside the western and central Mediterranean Sea during
the spawning season, including pre- and post spawning movements known till the ‘80s. (Sarà, 1983).
1040
1950-1959
1960-1969
1970-1979
1980-1989
1990-1999
2000-2007
Figure 9. Geographic distribution of bluefin tuna catches per 5°x5° and per main gears (ICCAT, 2008).
1041
Figure 10. Descriptive figure of a large bluefin tuna having marks of Isistius brasiliensis (Arena, 1988).
ALL GEARS 2008
no. = 7879
ALL GEARS 2008
no. = 2997
25,00
20,00
30,00
FREQUENCY %
FREQUENCY %
40,00
20,00
10,00
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
0,00
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)
Figure 11. An example of bluefin tuna weight frequency data collected by scientific observers in one area in the
Central Mediterranean Sea in 2008 (left) and the data as they are reported only by vessels having quota in their
landing declarations and in the official statistics for ICCAT Task II (right).
1042
LL BFT
no. = 1682
15,00
FREQUENCY %
FREQUENCY %
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
LL BFT
no.= 1489
10,00
5,00
0,00
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)
Figure 12. An example of bluefin tuna weight frequency data from longliners collected by scientific observers
in two harbours in the Central Mediterranean Sea in 2008 (left) and the data from the same two harbours as they
are reported by vessel having bluefin tuna quota in their landing declarations and in the official statistics for
ICCAT Task II (right).
1043