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Date Published: 19/05/2020

305 kilo wild tuna caught in the La Azohía Almadraba on the Cartagena coastline

Tuna are voracious predators and follow the migratory shoals of other species along our Mediterranean coastline

Images: Juan Paredes Conesa/ Almadraba la Azohía/Murcia Today

On Saturday fishermen using the Almadraba system of ecological fishing landed a magnificent specimen of wild tuna weighing in at 305 kilos in La Azohía on the Cartagena coastline.

Although fish of this size are few and far between, fishermen can expect to land 2 or 3 tuna of this size every season using this traditional fishing system which has been in use in the Murcia region for more than 3,000 years.

Almadraba nets are laid between February and June on the Cartagena coast, a system first used by the Phoenicians 3,000 years ago, then exploited by the Romans who built factories to process fish caught off this coastline and make pungent garum fish sauces which they exported to feed discerning Romans throughout their mighty Empire ( a good example of which can be seen in nearby Puerto de Mazarrón where there is a well-preserved Roman salt fish factory), a system continued by the Moors who occupied the region until the 13th century and then maintained by local fishermen, Almadraba nets still a part of the scenery along this coastline during the late winter and early spring months.

This system of netting is listed as being “pesca artesanal”, as it is a low impact, environmentally friendly method of fishing, which targets selected species of fish and respects the environment. Fishing is small-scale, with small boats travelling shorter distances to fish, capable of catching only limited quantities of targeted species, and maintaining the marine environment by not over-exploiting stocks, and using methods which damage the marine environment, in this case a network of nets directing the fish to swim through a maze of channels into a confined netted area from which they can be easily extracted.

Fish which do not meet size criteria are returned to the sea immediately, thus helping to maintain stocks for the future.

The nets can clearly be seen off the coastline of La Azohía; walk up to the Torre de Santa Elena (the mediaeval watch tower) on the headland and the snail shape is visible in the waters below.

Until the end of June the Melva (a smaller member of the tuna family, often called Frigate tuna) is migrating from the Straits of Gibraltar along the Spanish coast and passes along the Murcian coastline, so appears in fish shops around this time, a perfect fish for a Mediterranean casserole.

The Melva (Auxis spp.)is a robust, rapidly growing, meaty fish, a voracious predator which can achieve sharp bursts of speed (hence its lack of scales) and grows up to a maximum of 50cm, with the capability to live for around 5 years.

They generally travel in large shoals and migrate annually from the Atlantic to different areas of the Mediterranean during the summer months in order to reproduce.

A meaty fish, it also has high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids, which can help to lower blood fat levels, assist with rheumatoid arthritis and are even believed to heighten the effects of antidepressants.

It’s a powerful, compact fish, with the distinctive V-shaped tail which denotes this type of blue-finned fish and is ideal for a casserole-style dish, gutted, with the head removed and cut into thick slices, cooked with potatoes, peppers and saffron.(Click here for a recipe supplied by a local La Azohía lady and which the Ed. regularly cooks at this time of year after attending a workshop run by the Columbares Foundation in Isla Plana to learn about this type of fishing)

The best-known variety of these bluefin varieties is “the lion at the top of the food chain”, the tuna caught on Saturday as this enormous fish requires several years to mature and reaches a weight of several hundred kilos, consuming many smaller fish as they grow.

The fish caught on Saturday follows the shoals of migrating fish along the shoreline, feeding on the smaller varieties, and occasionally ends up itself in the nets of the fishermen.

Fish caught by this method are clearly labelled as Pescado Almadraba.

The Isla Plana fishmonger (behind the Freiduría fish restaurant and alongside the neighbour's association) sells local Almadraba fish, so if you want to guarantee that you’re buying environmentally friendly and locally caught fish, it’s worth knowing about. You’re also more likely to find local La Azohía fish in the pescaderías or the indoor markets in the Puerto de Mazarrón or Cartagena. Only very rarely do the supermarkets stock local fish.

All fish has to be clearly labelled when sold, so if you do buy in the supermarkets have a look at the labels on the fish counter and you’ll see that most of the fish is imported and is often up to ten days old when sold at the fish counters; in Isla Plana you’ll find the local fish sold there to be considerably fresher!!!!

And give Melva a try; ask the fishmonger to cut it into thick slices and try out the recipe linked to above.

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