Salmon and Sea Lice in Sweden -- Environmental History of Field Science in a Global Industry

As I've mentioned before in this space, the science of salmon aquaculture provides a great opportunity to explore the historical development of science in the context of environmental controversy and economic globalization.  I talked about some aspects of this history at a workshop at Ume� University, in Sweden, last week.

My focus was on the science of sea lice: those highly uncharismatic little creatures often found infesting both farmed and wild salmon.  Ever since the early days of the industry they have been a problem on salmon farms; about 25 years ago they started to also be observed in large quantities on salmon and sea trout swimming near the farms.  These observations have since led to a great deal of research in both northwestern Europe and western Canada.

This research, the knowledge generated, and debates about this knowledge raise lots of questions about how science is done at the local scale in the field, and how this knowledge then circulates between sites.  I suggested in my workshop paper that it's of particular interest that debate is still so active about whether sea lice from farmed salmon affect wild salmon � 25 years after research on this question began.  Examining the history of research on this intractable question involves looking at science at several scales: from the field � the specific techniques that scientists use to gather and interpret data through surveys, experiments, and models � to the global context of the salmon industry.  My main point is that salmon and sea lice knowledge has been constructed at the nexus of ecological complexities, a diverse research community in which there are several views about how one should do science (creating heterotopias at the research sites), and a social context composed of forceful interests that have contrasting views on whether salmon farms are sustainable.

Ultimately (and this is still coming into focus for me) it's a history of how the global economic structure of an industry has reached right into the specific practices of scientists in the field and lab � and how, in return, these practices have influenced the formation of the industry.

Here are the slides from my talk: