Gone Fishing

I’m hoping the canine companion of this fisherman is called Ted (or maybe Eduardo if that’s it’s Spanish equivalent) in memory of the real star of the BBC show ‘Gone Fishing’ with lifelong friends Paul Whitehouse & Bob Mortimer. If you haven’t seen it before, the latest series started on Sunday 25th October and Ted, a scruffy Patterdale Terrier who died in April, made his final appearance in the first episode of this, the ninth series. It’s a heartwarming 30 minute unscripted show where Paul and Bob just chat about men’s ‘issues’ while fishing, having fun and, in Bob’s case, usually falling over.

I love the programme although I’ve absolutely no patience for going fishing myself, but Dave has ‘had a go’ every now and then on the trip. The only thing he’s managed to land so far has been a nasty weaver fish and that went straight back to where it came from. We reckon something big got caught on the line on Monday but it had worked its way free by the time Dave had carefully reeled it in, with Paul Whitehouse shouting “Don’t wind” ringing in his ears. And on Wednesday another bite, possibly a small tuna, but after 15 minutes of slowly winding it in, our tea (for the next few days looking at the size of it) made one last gasp for freedom and off it swam. And away ……. 

Whether it’s for business or pleasure, fishing is part of daily life in these waters, and especially so on the section down the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal.

Nazare - is famous for its dried fish & traditional fishing techniques. Boat designs may have changed over the past 100 years but the locals can still buy dried mackerel, dogfish, red mullet, sardines and octopus on the seafront from racks and drying cabinets.

Sines - we met up with some old college friends of mine and enjoyed a very tasty meal of Sardines & Golden Bream at a small restaurant, called O Bejinha (Little Kiss), situated right in the heart of the fishing port. Absolutely no food miles to worry about here! Despite it being a Monday lunchtime the restaurant was packed full of locals, and we squeezed onto the last available table before a queue started forming outside. There’s no reservations and no menu, you pick out your chosen fish from the front counter and once cooked it arrives with a bit of salad and plain boiled potatoes, the fish was definitely the star of the show. Thanks to Jill, David & Sam for coming to meet us, for great company and for treating us to a wonderful fishy feast! 

Cádiz - sadly we arrived at the Indoor Market too late to see it in full swing but it seemed the whole of ground floor central section was set aside for selling fish. The gulls were helping with the clearing up! 

Barbate - the seas around Barbate have a long history of fishing. In the late 1950’s, the bulk of its fishing fleet operated from about 60 locally built small wooden boats called traiñas. These basic craft would employ about 40 fishermen and they fished for anchovies, sardines, horse mackerel and mackerel in the seas between southern Spain and Morocco. The boats were designed to cope with the worst of the winter storms but sadly on December 8th, 1960 the fleet returned missing one boat - the Joven Alonso, built in 1948. She sank without a trace  with the loss of 39 lives. No bodies were found and no evidence of the vessel, sails or wood ever reappeared. A memorial to the men stands at the entrance to the fishing port and is a sobering reminder that fishing is considered one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. 

Not far from the memorial, behind the security gates of the fishing harbour compound, are hundreds of massive rusty anchors all very neatly rowed up. We initially thought it was an anchor graveyard but we discovered they are used in the complex tuna fishing process and are stacked there for winter storage and so that any necessary maintenance and repairs can be carried out.

Every spring the anchors, each weighing about half a tonne, are secured on the ocean floor in the seas south of Barbate, on the Coast of Cádiz. The anchors are joined together by miles of steel cables and are attached to a labyrinth of fishing nets which lead to a central chamber. The history of this traditional fixed fishing net trap system called ‘Almadraba’ dates back thousands of years to the Roman and Phoenician times. 

During the peak Atlantic Bluefin tuna catching season, from the end of April to mid June, fishermen gather around ‘El Copo’ - the central net chamber which traps the fish. They manually haul the nets upwards to bring the massive tuna, some weighing 200 to 300 kg, to the surface. This orchestrated net raising process is called La Levantá. Nowadays it is a highly regulated and sustainable method of fishing for Atlantic Bluefin tuna as they migrate from the ocean towards the Mediterranean, past the Coast of Cádiz. There are strict quota limits, the nets are designed to protect fragile marine ecosystems and the killing method is now far more humane. 

The network of anchors and cables, and the submerged and floating fishing nets are laid out in February and retrieved in July/August. Sailing a yacht along the Coast of Cádiz (in particular near Conil, Barbate, Zahara and Tarifa) during the spring and summer months means avoiding a very wide area of these buoyed nets and taking a course often well beyond the preferred ‘safe’ 20m depth line. So the orcas may be chasing their favourite Atlantic Bluefin tuna or they may be chasing your precious, but vulnerable, rudder!