The Skomerža brothers
Naziv
The Skomerža brothers
Kategorija
Klasifikacija prema RKD
Vrsta baštine
Opis
Fishing has been one of the main occupations of the people of Crikvenica for centuries. The brothers Ivan and Josip Skomerža, innovators and experts in the field of fishing, grew up in such an environment. Continuing the family tradition, Ivan and Josip from 1908 went on study trips to Denmark, Germany and Norway to enrich their fishing activity with research work. In 1908, the Skomerža brothers were the first in the Adriatic to employ a motor-powered fishing boat. The 6-metre-long Galeb, with a 4 HP petroleum engine, was purchased in Denmark and went down in history as the first motorised fishing vessel in the Mediterranean. In the same year, Josip Skomerža began experimenting with a deep trawl net in the Vinodol Channel. Initially, the net was towed by two motor-powered boats. Trying to reduce costs, in 1911 the brothers took over the Danish practice of using trawl doors to spread the net, in which the net was towed by only one boat. A similar method of trawling is in use today but was then a novelty in the Mediterranean. The Skomerža brothers were behind another great innovation. They constructed and were the first in the Adriatic to use a special purse seine net to catch small oily fish. Josip Skomerža was also the first to use a petroleum lamp for night fishing, which soon made all other lighting methods redundant. This was the first use of a petroleum lantern in fishing in the Mediterranean. Ivan Skomerža founded the first joint-stock fishing company: Nekton (1912-1918). It had a fleet of about twenty fishing boats. The fishing method of Nekton’s trawlers was very advanced for that time. The fleet was led by the mothership Valerija, equipped with a mechanic’s workshop, a small sick bay, and fuel and food storage. The fleet also included the transport ship Kondor, the first refrigerator ship in the Mediterranean.
