How active was Italy's fishing fleet over the course of the war, and how much wartime loss did they suffer? I'd also like to know where some of their common fishing grounds were, any stories on individual vessels that got mixed up in the war, and estimates of the overall number of fishing vessels operated by Italy.
I'm also curious how they handled fishing fleets in occupied countries (e.g. Albania, Greece, etc). For example, how much of their catch was requisitioned for Italy vs. how much was allowed to remain on the local market, and whether the work was mainly done by locals or if any Italian crews/vessels were brought in to support the industry.
Italy's wartime fishing fleet
Re: Italy's wartime fishing fleet
I do not know much about the fishing activities and the overall size of the fishing fleet; only that there was a very small numbers of trawlers larger than 100 GRT (a few dozen, probably) and a very large number of smaller fishing boats of a few dozen GRT. A large part of the fishing vessels were requisitioned as auxiliary minesweepers: the vast majority of the 983 auxiliary minesweepers operated by the Regia Marina during the war were former fishing vessels. A considerable part of the 66 auxiliary submarine chasers were also requisitioned fishing vessels. Losses were very heavy, as with the rest of the Italian merchant fleet.
Regarding stories of individual fishing vessels, some are the following:
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... dizio.html
https://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogs ... malia.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... ia-ii.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... razza.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... -onda.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... rfano.html
Regarding stories of individual fishing vessels, some are the following:
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... dizio.html
https://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogs ... malia.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... ia-ii.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... razza.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... -onda.html
http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... rfano.html