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Thursday, 25 October 2012

Almadraba Tuna Fishing Barbate

As the Almadraba fishing fleet diminishes so this anchor grave yard grows near the Marina in Barbate! There are at least two hundred anchors - each about five feet high - each a rusting testament. Greg and I have been frequenting a Tapas bar called El Atun Rojo ( the Red Tuna). A couple of days ago they had quite a rowdy local crowd of OAP's in at lunchtime. After lunch they all trooped into the bar area and plonked themselves down on stools. The bar man then set up a DVD which was a film featuring the Barbate fishermen and the history and fate of the Almadraba fishing - even though it was in Spanish it was not difficult to understand. The old folk around us the witnesses to what has happened in their community over the last thirty years. They were keen for us to watch the film and kept talking to us about their old lives.
It was odd because early that morning we attempted to leave Barbate for Gibraltar, on the way out we saw a few Almadraba boats being towed in ( they don't have engines), then that very afternoon we found ourselves sitting with these old fishermen and their wives watching a fantastic DVD about it all.

http://jennykean.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/the-ancient-art-of-tuna-fishing/
 Have a read of Jenny Kean's blog re this ancient Phoenician fishing method, it is fascinating.
 

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