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of the contemporary tonnara. They also play a central role in the realisation of the future
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traps through the EU proposal . Through the proposal the EU participates in identifying,
manufacturing and mediating tradition. The EU also plays a role in defining the term and
terms of culture, a process that is incomplete and less than thorough. While I understand the
circumstances of these changes, I am interested in understanding what is at stake
ontologically, and also what is at stake in developing an understanding of the role of culture
in sustainability practices and debates. So to lead into the next section I return to the question:
what is lost with the loss of mattanza? What forms of life, activities and knowledge are
changing?
Tradition as Ontology
The EU proposal mobilises the term tradition. Yet the recent changes to harvest are deemed
irrelevant. This is a case where political will and the processes of justifying the trap have
interfered with the practice of harvesting, preserving and trading tuna. As I have just argued,
in the case of the EU proposal tradition is a flexible and political term that exists in the
system of fishing for tuna and stops at the net. What constitutes the fishery now is the trap
itself. Looking at the proposal and the recent reconfigurations through the idea of enduring
and fleeting assemblages we can say that for the trap to endure within the contemporary
context, it has reconfigured and become a very different type of fishing system with a variety
of new activities and actors. Moreover, it has become not only a food provisioning system
but also a data generating system, which performs a role as a baseline for the development of
future tuna management.
I want to think through what this means for the definition of the tonnara and its state
as an entity, by revisiting a few of the points I made earlier in the discussion of tradition and
boundary. What do the recent changes mean for its definition and entity? What does it mean
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