Dalyan

The Dalyan (also called ‘talyan’) is a fixed fishing structure used by man since ancient times. It consists of wooden stakes driven into the seabed to which a net is attached. The nets are placed vertically in the water, perpendicular to the shore. It is used to catch fish from schools of fish moving along the shore. The dalyan is a complex labyrinth and the schools of fish entering it cannot find their way back. The fishermen then go to the dalyan in boats and pick up the fish they have caught. The fish are collected early in the morning - the old fishermen say they go "at will". In the afternoon, the nets are cleaned of jellyfish and sea grasses that have become entangled in them. This method catches mostly small fish - sprat, anchovy, horse mackerel, but the big fish that hunt them for food also end up in the dalyan.

Usually there is a man on duty near it who watches the schools and signals the other fishermen - the "taifa" - when they enter the dalyan. They come in a "mauna" (large fishing boat).

In the past, dalyans were a widespread fishing method along our coast. It is friendly to the marine ecosystem because it does not disturb the seabed and other habitats as, for example, bottom trawling does. Fishing communities were formed around the dalyan, preserving knowledge of the sea and fish. One of the last of these is in Chengene skele Bay.