Plahuta Stojan

Stojan Plahuta was born in Piran and was becoming acquainted with the sea, fishermen, and the history of Piran already at an early age. As the profession of a fisherman aroused great interest in him, he enrolled in the fishing and navigation section of the Fishing School in Piran and successfully completed it with a final exam on 17 May 1969. He quickly attained the qualification of a fisherman. In 1980, he also passed the test in boat handling, and in 1987 obtained the authorization to perform the duties of a sailor - skipper.

After passing the exams from the fishing school, he initially got a job as a sailor-fisherman on the ship Sirena of the Izola Canning Industry Combine (in the following part referred to as KKID), then as a seaman on the ship Litija of the company Splošna plovba Piran. Later he opted for "foreign" and sailed on ships of a German shipowner, worked as a sailor in the "Second October" shipyard in Izola, as well as a truck driver, and finally settled down as a freelance fisherman. In 1981, he took on fishing as a side job, and in 1990 fishing finally became his main profession. From a young age, he was a firefighter in the Piran Fire Department, a blood donor, and a mountaineer.

Specifically, in the 1951/52 school year, a Fishing School also began operating in Piran as part of the Maritime School. Owing to the interest of the fish processing factories from Izola and Koper and the newly founded fishing companies Ribič in Piran and Riba in Izola, as well as due to the emigration of the indigenous Italian population to Italy, the need for fishing personnel was great. The mass emigration of the population from Istria to Italy, fishermen included, suddenly posed a great threat to the fishing profession. As a result, aspirations arose to establish a fishing school that would educate young people for this profession. The one-year fishing school was established in 1951, in the 1954/55 school year it expanded into a two-year, and in 1960/61 into a three-year vocational school; it ceased to function in 1966/67 owing to lack of funds, then re-established for one school year in 1970/71, and finally ceased to operate for good. The subjects taught in school were general, such as basics of navigation and fishing. Classes were held each school in two parts: theoretical (from November to April) and practical during the rest of the time. Practical work included seafaring and fishing practice. Stojan Plahuta, too, had to accomplish both sides of education. As a student, he was issued the Seafarer Card in 1967, which was compulsory when gaining practical knowledge on KKID ships. He was fishing on the Mečanica boat with Sergio Perentin, as well as on the Knežak and Lastovka boats. After finishing school, several students who also came from the interior of Slovenia were first employed by the fishing companies Ribič Piran and Riba Izola, or KKID. Immediately after finishing school (beginning of June 1969), Stojan's first job was sailor- fisherman on board the Sirena boat.

In the fishing school, where more than 200 fishermen and motormen were trained, Stojan Plahuta gained the basic knowledge for carrying out the fishing profession. From that period, he preserved some textbooks, which are now held by the Maritime Museum Piran. In 2020, the museum acquired his fishing nets, a pair of oars, fishing equipment, documents and copies of photos, professional literature and textbooks. The most important documents are the Certificate of Final Examination and the Fishing Licence.
 

The life of Stojan Plahuta, which was marked by the sea, ended right there. Early in the morning of 12 January 1995, he set out fishing in the Bay of Piran with his boat PI-1523, from where he never returned.

Prepared by Nadja Terčon

Source:

Museum documentation

Egon Plahuta, Piran, August 2025

Literature:

Terčon, Nadja: Usidrali smo se na morje, Piran, 2015

Kodrič Vladimir: Ribiška šola v Piranu. In Slovenski pomorski zbornik, Koper, 1962, pp. 109-114