Fishing
“Fishing primarily takes place in the lagoons and inlets around the city’s peninsula. Many people in the city dedicate themselves to fishing. In fact, it’s said that ¾ of the inhabitants dedicate themselves to this trade. Fishermen tend to descend from Venetian families; their songs are similar to those of eastern Ausané [¿?], though sweeter and also sadder than in the city normally.
They use two types of fishing boats, monoxyla (combining the words monos and xylos and meaning a boat with only one trunk) which were hollowed-out tree trunks in the past, though today they’re made from planks and used by one or two fishermen. The smaller ones in the lagoon are pushed along merely with the help of a pole; the larger ones which also go out beyond the lagoon have two long and broad oars, with the rower normally standing up. They don’t have rudders. The other boats used are called tratte. They’re large and have 12 rowers, each one moving an oar. They fish using a sack-shaped net and normally sail along the southwest side of the island.
There are different fish species in the hatchery found in the middle of the western lake in Saint Maura, like in the one found on the other side: the best are those from the sea between the old Ayos Nikolaos hospital and near Prevesa ( Preveza), in addition to Drepano Gulf which is how Alexandros Gulf used to be called. The most common fish are the following: kephalos (grey mullets), sardines ( Alexandros Gulf), barbunia and other small fish (in the hatchery), soles and orphes ( Prevesa Sea), bogues ( “boops boops”), spares (sea bream in Actium), mackerels (hatchery), tuna, and bonito tunas ( Prevesa).
There are also squid, cuttlefish, sea urchins, varied mussels, some varieties of oysters and abundant crabs in these waters.
