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and conflicted systems of governance (Barclay 2016, p. 66). The myth of endless abundance

was subdued with the idea that overfishing could occur (Barclay 2016, p. 68). For example,

‘[t]he notion that fisheries should be managed for sustainability attained the status of societal

myth, but policies and their implementation have not lived up to the myth’ (Barclay 2016, p.

68). This is because under the broad myth that suggests fisheries should be managed by

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government is a related myth about the types of science that are relevant . For instance,

studying fish as single species rather than as part of complex communities has led to the

principle of fishing to MSY (Barclay 2016, pp. 68-69), which underpins quota systems today.

Myths are also part of the operations of boundary making. Working within my current

theoretical framework, we can say that myths and their ‘well-worn grooves of thought and

practices’ (Barclay 2016, p. 66) are powerful components of an assembly of human and

more-than-human things, otherwise known as a hybrid entity we call a fishery. Myths

underpin understandings of the tonnara as a fishery that functions to provide not only food

but also data. In the same way that myths coexist and sometimes conflict in fishery

governance, so too do the myths that underpin the EU proposal. Myths of tradition combine

with myths of sustainability and science as the solution to overfishing. These myths then

conceal other realities of the tonnara as tradition, for example the mattanza. Bringing this

discussion back to the theme of boundary making, I suggest that myths tend to operate by

directing attention to particular ontological realities, and so can obscure alternative realities.

In the case of the tonnara and the appeal to tradition, several myths combine: the broad myth

that government should manage fisheries combines with the myth of MSY, which also

combines with the myth that tradition is limited to the trap. Such myths work to define what a

fishery is and to justify fishery governance, including the definition of the problems and their

solutions.

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