The fishing activity is intense in the bay of Tarrafal. I was lucky to be at the forefront of a traditional way to prepare the fishing of tuna.

This morning I heard a dinghy come very close to Giulia, onboard one men to maneuver it and two divers. They were riding with engine in the neighbourhood of Giulia , looking for iscas.
Iscas are small fishes eaten by tuna fish. Fishermen use them as bait to catch Tuna on bigger boats. I already had seen that the small fishes like to hide in Giulia’s shadow.
Today I could see them shining in the morning sun.


The fishermen had seen that too. A diver jumped in the water to indicate exactly where they were. After a while, he came to me asking whether they could encircle my boat with their net. I accepted just asking them to be careful with the anchor chain, the rudder, propeller and keel. With a smile the guy answered they were use to handle the nets with care. Indeed. The other dove and swam to the bow.
He used the anchor chain with his legs to stay still and had a look underwater.

Then he pointed in the direction of the swam trying to escape.



They put the net with the floater in the water, the diver holding a long line inserted under the floating devices at one end of the net. It also served to handle it precisely.


They literally encircled Giulia and came back to the bow. The line comes out at the other end of the net.

I admit that I wasn't totally reassured ...
There they closed the trap by pulling the long lines on each side and knotting them together.



Once done, they pulled the lines to shorten them and the size of the net. The divers kept an eye underwater following the fishes that tried to escape, pushing them in the net.

On the dinghy the two men attached the lines to hooks to ease the duty. Once trapped, they easily freed Giulia from the net, and brought it to the fishing trap attached to the side of the bigger boat, and transferred the fishes to the trap.







The owner thanked me to let Giulia be today’s catch spot bringing me a « little » tuna.

I loved to experience closer their fishing activity.
I cut the tuna, and was impressed by its muscles. I also found iscas in its belly.


It was so fresh I made a ceviche. And I had so much that I also prepared a crispy Tuna with soya sauce, sesame oil, Balsamic vinegar and melasse. It tasted delicious.

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