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tuna entered San Pietro. According to rais Luigi, ‘the tuna is of higher quality, because we

treat it in a particular way, with ice’ (2013, pers. comm. 18 June). Giuliano describes the

importance of quality:

Before they used the stellati and it took five people, each one with a harpoon to
haul the tuna. Now they only use one hook, in the mouth and use a chain, by hand.
There is still blood but now we must keep the quality of meat at its best. (G Greco
2013, pers. comm. 31 May)

In addition to the influence of Japanese tastes, the international Girotonno tuna festival had

its inauguration in 2003. Along with growing tourism the festival brought cosmopolitan tastes

to San Pietro.

Regardless of the changes that were taking place in the 1990s and 2000s, canning,

along with the production and trade in preserved tuna organs, continued. These are important

points I will return to in chapters four, five and six through a detailed analysis of new

practices, knowledge and actors, and what this means for the status of the tonnara as a

traditional fishery. For now we can say that this historical global expansion, both in bluefin

and in tuna for canning, and the increase in worldwide taste for tuna has contributed to a

sustainability crisis and therefore is part of what I am calling a sustainability assemblage.

The Emergence of a Sustainable Tin of Tuna

The historical analysis I have detailed returns us to the Coles eco tin and to the contemporary

period, which many have characterised as a crisis of too many fishers and too few fish

(Power 2005, p. 102). Bluefin is emblematic. Global tastes for tuna and technological

innovations have had devastating effects on their biomass. The international response to the

sharp decline of bluefin included the expansion of the role of inter-governmental monitoring

bodies like ICCAT; the introduction of quota; an increase in the presence of marine

authorities on fleets; more scientific research projects; and an escalation in environmental

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