Almadraba

Almadraba (a Spanish word coming from Andalusian Arabic: المَضْرَٰبَة, romanized: 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).

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).

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

Photo from below of a white wall featuring 8 by 10 painted tiles. On the tiles, a boat or boats crewed by 11 white men. Some of the men are hauling two big tuna onto the boats. Brown nets cover the side of the boats into the water. Three white men on the net are partially into the water gesturing to the men on the boats. 6 tuna swim on the water near the nets. On the center top of the tiles there is a rectangle with a picture of a standing crowned woman holding a child and a scapular.
Tiles featuring a scene of tuna catching on a wall at Conil de la Frontera , Spain. The scene is overseen by Our Lady of Mount Carmel .
Graveyard of Anchors on Tavira Island which were used in the Almadrava