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Traditional fishing methods
In this is region of Adriatic Coast the fishermen have a special way to trawl the fish. Along the (artificial or natural) channels in the huge wetlands of Po River Natural Park you can see these specially designed wooden huts with a footbridge to the water. There the square nets are attached to a kind of lifting mechanism to allow the fishermen to place the nets into the water. In my photos you can see these nets hanging in the air, waiting for the fishermen to lift them down, already halfway in the water or completely underwater. Then the men only have to wait a while, lift the nets back into the air and grab the catch of the day. It is fascinating to watch and while I was driving along the coast I was amazed how many of these huts and nets are found along the waterways. The fish they catch here are small sardine-like ones. I didn’t actually taste some, but next time I will and will also spend more time to watch the men on their daily life. Maybe my Italian has improved by then so I can even have a chat or two. The men seem to be prepared for telling people about their work – while I was watching the ones in photos 3 and 4, they were waving to me.
Photo 5 is a screenshot of the waterway north of Milano Marittima (between Lido di Classe and Lido di Servio) and shows how many of these huts and nets are dotted along the water.
I was driving by car, but there are countless biking paths along the way. I’ll rent a bike next time and explore all this in more detail. On the website of Parco del Delta del Po, the story of fishing is described (in English).
© Ingrid D., February 2011 (just in case, RS or others come along and think they can steal texts).
