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of a range of coastal communities from the Atlantic Ocean through to its spawning grounds

in the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Bluefin tuna matter economically, historically and gastronomically in different ways

to skipjack. Japan has played a significant role in the development of a highly lucrative

market for bluefin and in the spread of global production and consumption. Towards the end

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of the 20 century Japanese consumers began demanding high-quality and high-value tuna,

which was a shift from post-war food security issues (Barclay & Koh 2008, p. 145). At this

time the taste for sushi also went global and demand for prime bluefin created a “gold rush”

mentality in fisheries across the globe (Bestor 2000, p. 58). Japan became central to this

worldwide market and now leads the world in bluefin tuna importation and consumption. To

this day the Tokyo fish market Tsukiji, is at the epicentre of bluefin trade, described as ‘the

fishing industries answer to Wall Street’ (Bestor 2000, p. 54).

Fishing gear also matters in different ways for the Atlantic bluefin industry and for the

fish itself. Technology has played a significant role in the development of bluefin markets

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and also the decline of bluefin stocks. Like most fisheries from the middle of the 20 century,

bluefin fisheries expanded globally along with their fishing capacity and on-board storage.

For example, from the 1960s to the 1990s Japanese tuna fisheries expanded, and the

development of low-freezing technology allowed Japanese distant water longline fisheries to

supply commercially significant quantities of sashimi tuna (Barclay & Koh 2008, pp. 144-

145). Another significant technological development has been the use of fattening ranches.

Ranches operate by fattening wild caught bluefin and thus increase the commodity’s value

and respond to seasonal market demands. In the Mediterranean tuna ranching began in the

1990s. Ranches were often set up as joint ventures with Japanese firms. For example, the

Spanish firm Riccardo Fuentes e Hijos (hereafter referred to as the Fuentes group), which is

one of Europe’s largest seafood suppliers and leaders in tuna ranching in the Mediterranean,

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