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reality, lived and performed by those human and more-than-human things that hold the

tonnara in place. I argue that the biocultural reality that is emerging impacts profoundly, but

also diversely, on the life worlds of those who have lived with and by tuna fishing for

centuries. In addition the tonnara that is emerging questions the very definition of a tonnara.

And why does loss matter? Why care about the loss of a bloody, and as some argue, cruel

harvest practice? For whom does this loss matter? Obviously, it matters for many people

involved in this particular environmental conflict. I use the emotive term loss, rather than

change, because these are matters of care, concern and conflict and are experienced by fishers

and fishing communities as loss. The longer response to these questions includes an argument

about the ecological and the socio-cultural matters at stake. For instance, the mattanza brings

about employment through the harvest and post-harvest activities, such as canning. The

tonnarotti benefit financially from the local production and trade in organs. Also this practice

is less wasteful as every part of the fish is used. There are also intangible cultural aspects at

stake with the loss of mattanza, such as meaningful work and identity. Additionally, there are

ecological reasons to consider the loss of mattanza. Fattening ranches are ecologically taxing

because of the necessary inputs (feed) and the accumulation of waste in local ecosystems.

Loss is also politically significant. If it is true that with a 300 tonne quota the owners would

reopen the cannery and do mattanza, in the greater scheme of the Mediterranean TAC, this is

a small change with huge consequences for the tonnara. Furthermore, the wider issue at stake

concerns the development of fishery policy that considers the future of fishing cultures along

with the future of fish. And so, if we are to consider cultural aspects of sustainability

programs, then case studies such as this allow a more wholesome analysis of the issues at

stake: that is, not simply ecological but also cultural. Finally, in the wider cultural context of

Italy, a discussion about loss of food provisioning matters because in modern Italy, the

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