Zahara de los Atunes name means ‘blossom of the tuna fish’, and it is indeed by these large beasts that the town has lived for centuries. The methods of catching the tuna have changed little over the years. Shoals pass along the coast between April and June on their way to spawn in the Mediterranean, returning in July and August. The tuna, which can weigh up to 800 kg, are herded into nets where they are hooked and hauled into the boats. Much of the tuna goes to Japanese and Korean factory ships waiting off shore, but the catch has dwindled in recent years, likely due to overfishing. It’s a hard industry, and Cervantes famously commented in La Ilustre Fregona that nobody was truly a rogue unless they had fished tuna for two seasons at Zahara.