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The second point relates to the disposability of the mattanza and post-harvest

practices. Once more the harvest is an interesting point of contention. This is a case where

political will and the justification of the trap interfered with the practice of harvesting tuna

and preserving and trading organs. I have already argued that policymakers and

environmental campaigners should be sympathetic to the circumstances through which the

tonnara has transformed. In the next chapter I would like to focus on this transformation and

the delicate tension and conflicts surrounding innovation and loss of practices, livelihood and

knowledge. I have been careful to not mount an argument that the tonnara should not change

and to not reinforce a static notion of tradition. I have also been careful to not place myself as

the arbiter of culture. However, I take the loss of the harvest as a point to focus on because it

was clearly the centre of concern, conflict and care in the tonnara in 2013. Indeed many

tonnarotti and local community members expressed a yearning for this practice to continue,

although at a similar level and mode in which it was previously practiced. It is therefore

worth considering what is sustained and what is not, in the wider goal of sustaining tuna and

in the specific proposal to sustain the tonnara.

It is also interesting to consider the disposability of the harvest practice in relation to

the meaning of cultural sustainability or a four-pillar model. The trap is being sustained

within a sustainability discourse that emphasises fishing gear and catch and is

epistemologically based on scientific knowledge and practices. These conditions bring us

back to the case study of the tinned tuna and my argument that the sustainability discourse

centres on the fishery. Similarly, certain aspects of the fishery become visible (gear, size of

net) and other aspects of production are rendered invisible.

I would like to explore what function is served by the disposal of this part of the

fishery. In blunter terms, what, in the eyes of the different actors, is the point of sustaining a

traditional fishery? What is the meaning and function of tradition in diverse contexts

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