Small-scale fishing at Porto Cesareo

History and origin

Porto Cesareo, on the Ionian coast of the Salento, has always been a fishing town. Its harbour is home to a sizeable fleet of small-scale, artisanal fishing boats, about 250 of them, which plays a central role in the local economy; and although the town welcomes more visitors every year, the fishermen remain attached to the traditional fishing that made it known for the quality of its catch.

The sea off the town is a marine protected area, established in 1997 as a State marine reserve and managed by a consortium formed by the municipalities of Porto Cesareo and Nardò and the Province of Lecce. Since 2011 it has been listed among the Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance.

The Slow Food Presidium was created, as part of a project for the Salento, to support this fishing and the fishermen's knowledge. The member fishermen have set up an association to respect more sustainable fishing seasons and catch sizes, so as to protect the species and the quality of the sea; Slow Food highlights the knowledge of the marine environment handed down from generation to generation.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo · Comune di Porto Cesareo — Area Marina Protetta

Area and method of production

The marine protected area covers more than 16,000 hectares of sea and 32 kilometres of coast, from Punta Prosciutto in the north to Torre Inserraglio in the south, in the municipalities of Porto Cesareo and Nardò, on the eastern side of the Gulf of Taranto. It is divided into zones with different levels of protection, and seabed mapping has identified more than fifteen habitats there, including Posidonia oceanica meadows, coralligenous reefs and underwater caves.

The gear changes through the year depending on the species sought. Most boats use set nets such as trammel and gill nets all year round, with a 30-millimetre mesh; others prefer pots, bottom longlines and small drift nets.

The boats are small: more than 70% are under eight metres long with engines below 50 kilowatts. They are usually wooden, with a small cabin at the stern and a winch at the bow for hauling the nets. Fishing goes on all year round.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo · Comune di Porto Cesareo — Area Marina Protetta

How to recognise it

The catch comes from the coastal seabeds of the marine protected area. Among the most typical species Slow Food lists red mullet, lappane, octopus, John Dory and prawns: they are also the essential ingredients of the quatara, the town's fish soup.

More than a single species, the Presidium protects a way of fishing. Nets with regulated mesh, small boats and the commitment to sustainable fishing seasons and sizes serve to catch adult fish and give the sea time to regenerate. It is a varied catch that changes with the seasons and the gear used.

The setting adds to its quality: a sea with very varied seabeds, sandy and rocky, rich in islets and rocks breaking the surface, and protected for almost thirty years.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo · Comune di Porto Cesareo — Area Marina Protetta

In the kitchen

The dish that tells the story of this fishing is the quatara of Porto Cesareo, listed among Puglia's traditional products. It takes its name from the small tinned copper pot it was cooked in: it was once the soup fishermen made on trips lasting several days, landing in a cove during the hottest hours and setting the pot over a fire between three stones.

It began as a soup of unsold fish and follows a precise order. Onion is softened in extra virgin olive oil, tomato and water, half sea water and half spring water, are added, then molluscs such as cuttlefish and squid, crustaceans such as crabs and mantis shrimps, and finally the fish, from the firmest such as weever, scorpionfish, conger and moray to the most tender such as gobies, wrasse and red mullet. About ten minutes later it is ready.

Tradition calls for dipping home-made bread into the broth. Still today, cooked right on board, the fishermen's soup keeps the character given by the variety and freshness of the fish.

Sources: PAT Puglia — Quatàra di Porto Cesareo · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo

Where to taste it

The reference point is the harbour, the heart of a town with a seafaring soul: this is where the small fishing boats moor and set out again, and where the fish market takes place. The Presidium's catch is bound up with the town and its cooking: the regional profile of the quatara mentions the Sagra del Pesce of Porto Cesareo, a long-standing summer event, and lists the soup among the dishes of local restaurants.

The sea can also be discovered on land. The municipality points to the Pietro Parenzan Museum of Marine Biology, part of the University of Salento museum system, which holds more than 900 specimens of marine fauna and flora, and to the Palude del Conte and coastal dune regional reserve, which together with the Porto Selvaggio and Palude del Capitano park, in the territory of Nardò, protects the land behind the marine area.

Along the 32 kilometres of coast between Punta Prosciutto and Torre Inserraglio, sandy beaches alternate with stretches of low rocky shore and islets: a stretch of the Ionian Salento to enjoy together with its sea, getting to know the people who fish it.

Sources: Italia.it — Porto Cesareo · PAT Puglia — Quatàra di Porto Cesareo · Comune di Porto Cesareo — Museo di Biologia Marina Pietro Parenzan · Comune di Porto Cesareo — Area Marina Protetta · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo

Protection

• Slow Food Presidium — piccola-pesca-di-porto-cesareo (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo)

When

• Production: all year round (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Porto Cesareo)

Where

Puglia