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mainly adult tuna are captured, and their catch can be checked (Di Natale & Addis 2010, p. 975). However,
considering the endangered status of bluefin tuna, an eco-label raises concerns for NGOs and ethical
consumption markets.
19 San Pietro is a small island that stretches over 50.2 km² and is located just off the south-western coast of
Sardinia (UrbiStat 2016). The 6,000 or so inhabitants originated in the northern region of Liguria (Italy) and so
are linguistically and ethnically distinct from Sardinia. In 1541 they travelled from the northern region to the
Tunisian island Tabarka to dive for coral (Carloforte 2016). In 1738 after repeated pirate raids and depletion of
the coral reef, the community accepted an invitation from Carlo Emanuele III of Savoia, King of the Sardinian
Piedmontese Kingdom to settle the then uninhabited island of San Pietro (Carloforte 2016). Today many of the
inhabitants have maintained their tabarchino dialect and distinct identity.
20
For scholarly research on tinned tuna see: Barclay & Cartwright 2007; Barclay 2004, 2010, 2012a, 2013;
Campling 2007, 2008, 2012; Campling & Doherty 2007; Ponte 2012.
21
The first accurate data on record of tuna exported between 1598 and 1599 according to the state archival
register A.S.T., Regia Secrezia, Responsalia anni 1598-1603 in Trapani (Gigenti 1982, p. 17).
22
Some scholars suggest Appel and Durand were in collaboration rather than competition due to the limitations
of using tin cans in France. This was said to be in secret due to the relations between France and England at the
time. See Shephard (2006, pp. 233-235) for a discussion about this contested history.
23
Of course the nations consisted of either European nations or those that Europe had some colonial presence or
interest in.
24
The Egadi Islands are three islands in west Sicily. They include: Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo.
25
A Sicilian currency no longer in use. ‘One onza equaled thirty tari and one tari equalled 20 grani. To provide
an idea of the value of an onza, in the seventeenth century, a Sicilian bracciante (farm worker) could earn about
one to two tari per day’ (Cancila 1972 cited in Longo & Clark 2012, p. 213).
26 There are now three traps, which are each owned independently and operated through a consortium. The
Greco family own the trap Isola Piana closest to San Pietro and operate through the company Carloforte
Tonnare PIAM Srl.
27
The authors refer to ‘packers’ but in the context of the author’s text I take this to mean canneries.
28
Prior to the 1950s canneries and fishing fleets were mostly situated close to one another and to the nations that
governed them. The French operated canneries in Algeria, Morocco, Spain and Portugal and the USA on the
East and West coast of USA (Miyake et al. 2010:, pp. 85-93). From the 1950s to the 1970s canneries were
located in West and East Africa, Central and South America and Samoa, and in the 1980s and 1990s in South
East Asia, where to this day Thailand dominates the cannery export market (Miyake et al. 2010, pp. 85-93). In
the early 2000s new canneries have opened in the Middle East, Maldives and Melanesia (Miyake et al. 2010:,
pp. 85-93). Since the 1970s there has been a decline in the number of canneries in USA, predominantly in Los
Angeles (San Pedro, Terminal Island), with the last cannery closing in 2007 (Miyaki 2010, p. 87). This decline
began earlier in Monterey and by 1966 there were just two canneries in operation (Parrish 2000, n.p.). In the
famous cannery area of California, at its peak there were 18 canneries, providing jobs for 17,000 people, as well
as the 2,000 fishermen selling their catch to them (Harrison 2013, para. 4). The industry was so critical to the
local economy that Los Angeles County put a tuna in its official seal (Harrison 2013). In 2006 the world’s main
tinned tuna exporting countries included Thailand (46%), Ecuador (10%), Spain (7%), Mauritius (5%),
Philippines and Indonesia (both 4%), Seychelles (3%), other (21%) (Miyake et al. 2010, pp. 85-93).
29
For a discussion in relation to the European fleets see Campling (2012, p. 258).
30
As T.H Huxley famously claimed in 1883.
31
While this approach might appear to be in agreement with Garrett Hardin’s somewhat problematic notion of
the Tragedy of the Commons, it differs in the social and technological context through which it analyses these
patterns. That is, rather than suggesting an innate human tendency to selfishly appropriate nature and thereby
obfuscating the conditions upon which such actions are made possible Campling discusses the context at length.
32 This caused a drastic drop in tuna passing through the area. See Addis et al. (2009) for an investigation into
anthropogenic influences on tuna migration.
33 FADs are controversial objects because they are used in combination with industrial fishing gear to increase
the catch opportunity. However, they also increase the quantity of bycatch because non-target species are also
attracted to FADs. The use of FADs in the Maldives in combination with small-scale fleets is considered less
harmful. John West WWF has recently used the term “ecofad”. However, Greenpeace says that this is a green
spin on what is essentially a FAD (see Butler 2014).
34
Brands are ranked according to the following criteria: the effectiveness of a brand's sustainability policy,
fishing gear, tuna species used, labelling, support for marine reserves and equitable tuna policies, and use of
illegal or unregulated products (see Greenpeace 2012, which tuna should I buy).

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