Almadraba

{{short description|Ancient technique of the Phoenicians for catching bluefin tuna}}

File:Almadraba en azulejo.jpg 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.|alt=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.]]

Almadraba (a Spanish word coming from {{langx|xaa|المَضْرَٰبَة|al-maḍraba|the place to strike}}; in {{langx|pt|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).

File:Cemitério de âncora.jpg which were used in the Almadrava]]

It is a traditional form of fishing practiced mainly in southeastern Spain (Andalusia, Murcia and southern Valencian Community), Morocco and southern Portugal (the Algarve).{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=almadraba |title=almadraba|encyclopedia= Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima segunda edición|publisher=Real Academia Española|year=2001|lang=es}}{{cite web

| url = http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2015/540367/IPOL_STU(2015)540367_EN.pdf

| title = The future of the almadraba sector – traditional tuna fishing methods in the eu | access-date = 30 May 2017}} Almadrabas have been set from the ports of Cádiz, Chiclana de la Frontera,{{Cite web |title=Las almadrabes y Chiclana |url=http://www.diariodecadiz.es/article/opinion/734368/las/almadrabas/y/chiclana.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714131947/http://www.diariodecadiz.es/article/opinion/734368/las/almadrabas/y/chiclana.html |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=July 13, 2014 |language=Spanish}} 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 {{lang|scn|mattanza}} (a borrowing from the Spanish word {{lang|es|matanza}}, meaning 'slaughter').