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individual bird in reproductive practices of conservation. In addressing the dilemma of

sustaining fish and fishing cultures it might help to understand how we care and what kinds

of consequences our caring has. Perhaps some important questions are: ‘what forms of care

are most effective...how do we come to care, and which types of care have the desired

effects?’ (Probyn 2014b, p. 296). Another reason for thinking about care is that care

augments the affective and ethical connotations of matters of concern. Latour himself used

care to direct attention to the importance of caring for technologies, even those we view as

failures or know as unethical (Bellacasa 2011, p. 90). Recalling the moral story of

Frankenstein, Bellacasa says that:

…caring for technology carries well the double significance of care as an
everyday labour of maintenance that is also an ethical obligation: we must take
care of things in order to remain responsible for their becomings. (2011, p. 90)

The fishery quota system comes to mind as a relevant example of the importance of care and

responsibility in relation to an intervention. What are our responsibilities towards the

unintended and undesired social and ecological outcomes of this system of tuna

conservation?

For the reasons just outlined I situate tuna, sustainability and the tonnara as three

dingpolitik. Tuna, sustainability and the tonnara are more than matters of facts, but are

matters of concern, care and conflict. In the next three sections I explore each matter in turn

and keep the following questions in mind: How might a matter of concern, care and conflict

approach reframe the issue of tuna conservation? What kinds of social and cultural

considerations might we include when we see matters of facts and matters of concerns as co-

productive? How might this understanding help us cultivate an integrated model of

sustainability? And how might we understand the role of these affective registers – conflict,

concern and care – in relation to a sustainability assemblage and process of assembling?

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