Small-scale fishing at Torre Guaceto

History and origin

Fishing has gone on at Torre Guaceto for thousands of years: finds from the reserve show that fish were already caught here in the Bronze Age. The municipality of Carovigno also mentions the Roman kilns for firing pottery near the tower and the large lead anchors recovered from the bottom of the bay. According to the same source the name comes from an Arabic root meaning a freshwater stream, and the sixteenth-century coastal tower was built to defend the shore from raids.

Today the area is a State nature reserve, with a marine reserve and a wetland of international importance. It is run by a consortium formed by the municipalities of Carovigno and Brindisi and by WWF, which has been defending this land since the early 1970s.

The Slow Food Presidium was created to tell the story of a model of shared artisanal fishing. In the first years the rules of the marine area put the fishermen to the test; over time, however, the joint effort brought bigger fish, larger catches and better economic results.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Torre Guaceto · Comune di Carovigno — Torre Guaceto · Fondazione Slow Food — Pomodoro fiaschetto di Torre Guaceto

Area and method of production

The marine protected area covers about two thousand hectares of sea, divided into three zones; fishing is allowed in only one of them, zone C. For about a decade the managing body has involved the fishermen directly in decisions on fishing, and the result is a limited impact on the ecosystem and a good recovery of marine life.

The rules are precise. The boats, 4 to 5 metres long, may fish in zone C only once a week. For bluefish they use nets 500 metres long with a 36-millimetre mesh; for other species, nets of 1,000 metres with a 30-millimetre mesh. It is artisanal fishing designed to respect the ecosystem.

According to Slow Food's profile, the Presidium's fishermen, in agreement with the managing body, suspended fishing until the end of 2024 to let stocks recover after a decline caused by illegal fishing, and the consortium set up video surveillance of the area to support police checks.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Torre Guaceto

How to recognise it

The catch follows the seasons. In autumn and winter the nets bring mackerel, bluefish, amberjack, Atlantic bonito, barracuda, grey mullet, bullet tuna and cuttlefish; between summer and autumn, dentex, sea bream, gilthead bream and sea bass; in spring, octopus and red mullet.

The hallmark of this fishing is what it has achieved over time. Studies carried out over the years have shown that catch sizes have grown for many species, red mullet and scorpionfish in particular, and that bluefish, thought to have disappeared from the area, have returned. The sea is in good health, and the fishermen, supported by the marine area's staff, are its best guardians.

It is fish that tells of a balance restored: caught by a few boats, with regulated nets and few fishing days, in a sea where shared rules have given life room to return.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Torre Guaceto

Where to taste it

Torre Guaceto lies on the Adriatic coast of the upper Salento, in the territory of Carovigno, in the province of Brindisi. The reserve covers about 1,100 hectares, with eight kilometres of coast, and brings together very different ecosystems: the sea, the shore, the wetland, Mediterranean scrub and farmland. The sixteenth-century tower, on a small headland between two coves, houses an observatory that watches over the wetland and the marine reserve.

Around the reserve the managing body has revived traditional farming, from thousand-year-old olive trees to the fiaschetto tomato, also a Slow Food Presidium, and has set up a food community that brings together livestock farmers, cheesemakers, fishermen and growers working in the protected area.

Carovigno, the ancient Messapian Carbina, keeps its medieval quarter and town walls. Before a trip it is worth checking whether the Presidium's fishing has resumed, because during the pause its fish does not reach the market.

Sources: Comune di Carovigno — Torre Guaceto · Fondazione Slow Food — Pomodoro fiaschetto di Torre Guaceto · Comune di Carovigno — Borgo medioevale e cinta muraria · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Torre Guaceto

Protection

• Slow Food Presidium — piccola-pesca-di-torre-guaceto (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Piccola pesca di Torre Guaceto)

When

• The sources consulted give no months.

Where

Puglia