The tiny Italian island feeding Japanese appetites for bluefin tuna sushi and sashimi

San Pietro, off Sardinia, is one of the biggest exporters to Japan of prized bluefin tuna. Fishermen there have been catching the fish for generations

Japanese tuna buyers and chefs have taught islanders to eat raw tuna, and its flesh has gone from being considered poor men’s food to prized delicacy today

Reading Time:5 minutes

Fishermen raise nets full of bluefin tuna ready for slaughter at San Pietro in Sardinia, Italy. The tiny island is a major supplier of the fish to Japan, where it is prized by lovers of sushi and sashimi. Photo: Alamy

Published: 6:00pm, 13 Oct 2019Updated: 6:00pm, 13 Oct 2019

A small Italian island in the middle of the Mediterranean with pristine, tropical-looking beaches and a population of just 6,000 is best known for its link to another country half a world away in Asia.

San Pietro (Saint Peter, in English), off the southwestern tip of the larger island of Sardinia, is a major exporter of the premier bluefin tuna that is prized in Japan for its use in sushi and sashimi. It is called “red tuna” locally for the bright, bloody colour of its tasty meat.

“Almost 80 per cent per cent of our yearly catch ends up in Japan,” says Giuliano Greco, owner of the island’s only tuna fishery and factory, which each spring catches and exports tuna overseas to meet rising demand for sushi not only from the Japanese market but also other Asian countries, including China.

“The Japanese are our biggest clients, and without them our expert tuna fishermen [tonnaroti] would have retired by now and our ancient fishing industry declined,” he adds.

Bluefin tuna swim inside tuna pens at San Pietro island, Sardinia. Photo: Alamy

Greco’s tuna factory is the oldest and largest of its kind operating in the Mediterranean, and known for its tuna trapping festivals, called mattanza, a term of Spanish origin referring to the “killing” of tuna fish.

It’s a bloody spectacle that lures tourists and gourmands eager to witness an ancient rite that harks back about 3,000 years to the time of the Phoenicians. Italy used to be dotted with tuna factories, but in recent decades most have closed down due to European tightening regulations and fishing quotas that have dealt a blow to the fisheries.