The Spring Dalyans Are Already Set
We spent a wonderful Sunday morning with the fishermen from the Dalyan “Chaika” in Sozopol
Dalyan means “fishing weir” in Turkish. One of the most romantic Dalyan is “Chaika” (Seagull). Some time ago, it was called “Yuri Gagarin”, because it was visited personally by the first astronaut. Gagarin planted a slim tree- pine, which is now a large pine tree.
The cult native film “Orchestra without a name” was shot here. Now there is no mention of the meadows and vineyards from the time when the film was shot. Hundreds of houses and hotels have sprung up.
In the morning, when our team visited them, they had just made their catch – a few Black Sea shad only. The reason for the poor catch is that the Dalyan was placed late in the evening, until 6 in the morning only a few fish passed the “towel” and entered the “bag”.
After removing the fish from the nets, they worked together on the “towel” and preparing it for placement. They stumbled on the “Mauna” and headed to the Dalyan. If you are wondering at the strange words, the “Mauna” is a large farmer’s boat that gathers the whole gang. Stacking is the arrangement of nets in the boat, separating the upper and lower ends (upper and lower collar).
For the uninitiated, the supporting structure of the Dalyan is made of stakes, attached to the seabed and connected by wire to each other at the upper end. The nets (“towels”) are attached to them – a straight barrier net, which diverts the passage, and a closed “bag”, in which the fish are collected.
The fishermen told us interesting stories from the recent and distant past. Stories about big catches, about the already extinct Black Sea mackerel and about the days when the sea was rich in fish and their catch was tons of horse mackerel, bonito and bluefish.
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