Crossword911.com crossword help

Sicily Fishing Fishing Industry in Sicily - Medieval Fishing off Sicily - The most important fishing industry of the medieval Mediterranean was, arguably, in Sicily, and even there fish played a modest albeit constant role in the food of the island. There were two kinds of fish caught in the fif***th century, the so-called blue fish, mostly sardines and anchovies that had some limited economic importance in Sicily's export trade, and the white fish, such as John Dory, turbot, sea bass, grouper, comber, etc., which were secondary in economic importance. However, fish had no overall importance in either the diet or the economy of medieval Sicily and the total number of fishermen was few. But the fasting prescriptions of the church assured that fish would always be in demand. In data for the vice-regent from 1415 we see that fresh and dried fish were bought ten days out of the month. On Friday and Saturday, fresh fish, eel, salted little tuna, and eggs were eaten instead of meat. Messina, Cefalù, Termini, Trapani, and Palermo were the five fishing centers of Sicily in the four***th and fif***th centuries, all fishing sardines for the most part. Fish were in seasonal demand and especially during Lent, when church-mandated fasting requirements limited the amount of meat that could be eaten. During the winter, the fishing industry was involved in salting sardines and, especially, tonnina (little tuna, Euthynnus alletteratus). The fishermen encircled the shoals of ...