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Tuna as Dingpolitik

In this section I present some of the main concerns and groups that gather around Atlantic

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bluefin with an emphasis on the trade that spans from the Sardinian tonnara to Japan .

Fig. 4.5 Bluefin tuna (Press 2014).

Tuna as commodity: traders and ranches

The Fuentes group is one company that joined the tuna gold rush and has since struck a

business deal with the consortium of tonnare. Within this deal the consortium sells to the

group its entire quota worth of tuna from the tonnare, which has resulted in the introduction

of sea cages, a pathway to fattening ranches in Malta, and consequentially, a huge reduction

in local tuna harvest. Sitting in a make shift office at the tonnara, Javier Serigot (employee of

Fuentes group) describes the story of the company, while intermittently answering calls to

organise the final tug boat of the season that will transport tuna to Malta. He tells me the

company began by trading salted fish and then in the 1990s started to sell fresh tuna to local

and Japanese markets. In the early stages they bought small quantities from purse seines and

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