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Almadraba, the traditional method of tuna fishing in Andalusia

Friday, 21 November 2025 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  3 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Almadraba (a Spanish word coming from Andalusian Arabic: al-maḍraba, lit.: ‘the place to strike’; in Portuguese: almadrava) is an elaborate and ancient technique for trapping and catching Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). This fishing method is over 3,000 years old and evolved from a natural process: The principle of the almadraba is based on the fact that tuna move along the same routes in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean: In spring, they migrate from the nutrient-rich, cold waters of the Atlantic, carrying fat reserves, through the Strait of Gibraltar into the warmer Mediterranean to spawn. And in autumn, the young fish begin their return journey north. For fishermen, this was once one of the few opportunities to catch tuna themselves. From this practice, a tradition developed that continues to this day.

The technique, in its most simple iteration, consists in setting up net barriers to trap the tuna when they migrate into the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean (February to July), on their way to spawn and until recently, on their return journey, (“al revés”); the bycatch contains, among others, bullet tuna (auxis rochei), little tunny (euthynnus alletteratus), Atlantic bonito (sarda sarda), bigeye tuna (thunnus obesus) and swordfish (xiphias gladius).

It is a traditional form of fishing practiced mainly in southeastern Spain (Andalusia, Murcia and southern Valencian Community), Morocco and southern Portugal (the Algarve). Almadrabas have been set from the ports of Cádiz, Chiclana de la Frontera, Conil de la Frontera, Barbate, Rota, Zahara de los Atunes, La Línea de la Concepción, Nueva Umbría, Isla Cristina, Ceuta and Tarifa, among other ports.

A similar technique exists in Sicily known as mattanza (a borrowing from the Spanish word matanza, meaning ‘slaughter’).

Read more on Wikipedia Almadraba (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.