The Bluefin Tuna Catch in the Strait of Gibraltar. A Review of Its History

Abstract

Taking bluefin tuna in the Strait of Gibraltar as a reference, a description is made of the fishing methods used in its capture from the ancient populations of hominids to the present day. To do so, and based on recent paleoanthropological studies, the hypothetical way in which this fish would have been caught by the neanderthals is described (over 30,000 years ago); based on an extensive bibliography on the subject, the way fishing would have taken place in the Roman city of Baelo Claudia (200 B.C.) is described; and how it was during the Modern Age and is nowadays. Information is given on the fishing statistics from three Spanish traps between 1525 and 1756, upon which different scientists have pronounced in recent publications, and emphasis is placed on the overfishing that has taken place since the middle of the 20th century, its consequences, and how these have been overcome.