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supported because it is a ‘useful tool for the management of the BFT fishery’ (Ambrioso &

Xandri 2015, p. 11). This argument is reinforced in a 2010 article by Emery that explores the

paradoxes of fishing for tuna in Sardinia, where heritage, economic development and marine

conservation are often in conflict (2010, p. 30). She suggests, ‘an increase in scientific

studies, such as recent investigations by Addis and his students at the University of Caglieri,

may play a key role in protecting the future of Carloforte’s tonnara’ (Emery 2010, p. 31).

The current EU proposal builds on these arguments and refers to the traps as a ‘data gold

mine’, stating that the traps provide a historical dataset of annual catches, which give us

insights into the effects of environmental variability (Ambrioso & Xandri 2015, p. 45). The

traps also provide ‘high-quality age-specific biometrics of stock biomass, for both the

sedentary and migrating fraction of the Eastern BFT stock, as well as an invaluable

component in the stock assessment models’ (Ambrioso & Xandri 2015, p. 45). Ultimately the

trap has become a baseline for fishery scientists and is gaining durability because of its

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perceived value for monitoring purposes .
The following questions arise from this situation: When located knowledge is

translated into universal facts such as a baseline for Atlantic bluefin stock, is its located,

situated and partial perspective lost? Are other partial ways of knowing, such as fisher

knowledge, relevant in the new decontextual spaces?

As I have just indicated, the EU proposal brings together three key characteristics of

the tonnare: ecological credentials, social and cultural value (mainly labour and tradition),

and scientific importance. The trap system is positioned as a system worth sustaining for

these reasons. Taking a closer look and approaching the question of sustainability from an

assemblage framework, we can look at the EU proposal and indeed the recent reconfiguration

of the trap through the idea of enduring and fleeting assemblies. Gay Hawkins and Kane Race

suggest, ‘“the social” emerges in the dynamic of both durable and fleeting assemblages’

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