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management about the actual stock level and methods of data collection. These conflicts

extend to the island where it was common to hear locals talk about the abundance of tuna in

the sea and express their frustration at being continually controlled while they observed an

increase in tuna. As we have seen, some argued that now there are so many tuna that the

anchovy, on which the tuna feed, are declining. While these are empirical observations and

there are still good reason to regulate the Atlantic bluefin fishery (for one, the mean age of

the stock is still young), these local observations are backed up by recent data that indicates

an increase in stock (see Press 2014).

On the other side of the debate about stock levels and quota, are groups such as

Greenpeace that take a harder line than the current quota allocated for bluefin. From the point

of view of Greenpeace there should be no bluefin fishing at all, even for the tonnara, until

stocks recover. As Giorgia Monti stated:

…the situation of the stock is so bad that I can’t say that the tonnara is ok, also
because at some point when the crisis is so drastic you just have to be black and
white and say no Bluefin tuna, so until the stock is recovered no Bluefin
tuna…[and then] let’s give access first to those that fish sustainably and then to
the others if it’s possible. (2013, pers. comm. 25 June)

A cage and the absence of tuna in San Pietro

Within the new reality resulting from tuna leaving the island live and going to Malta,

fishermen no longer harvest, process and trade tuna. As I have already detailed in chapter

one, the significance of the mattanza is not only in the harvest practice but also the

surrounding preserved tuna trade, which adds to the local economy and also the wage of

tonnarotti, involves tacit knowledge, ways of labouring and a local tuna taste culture. In the

contemporary situation, these practices risk becoming clandestine or part of an underground

economy. In addition, the cannery has ceased operations. It is now more common in San

Pietro to find canned tuna and dried tuna organs in vacuum packs from Sicily rather than

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