Abstract
In 2009 the Norwegian Directorate of Nature management warned that the Atlantic salmon population in River Tana in Arctic Norway was dramatically reduced. Active mesures had to be taken to prevent future extinction. Local fishermen protested against this description of the cause of events. On fishing expeditions, expert claims were continuously discussed. Such conversations were and are a substantial part of everyday conversations amongst local fishermen. In this chapter, the fishermens' conversations are used as an entry into particular aspects of local knowledge, its relational nature, and the implicit epistemological politics. As their witness, during hours of fishing and conversing, I observed how the fishermen scrutinized scientific knowledge claims. They did not just question and compare the experts' knowledge claims with what they themselves knew. Significantly, the fishermen made comparisons of how knowing was done. The Ongoing conversation of the fishermen enacted a resistance more complex than what was visible at first sight. Positioning fisheries science as the Other, local knowledge was enacted and assembled as fluid and heterogenous, including numerous unequal and loosely assembled entites.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Fishing People of the North |
Subtitle of host publication | Cultures, economies, and management responding to change |
Editors | C. Carothers, K.R. Criddle, C.P. Chambers, P.J. Cullenberg, J.A. Falls, A.H. Himes-Cornell, J.P. Johnsen, N.S. Kimball, C.R. Menzies, E.S. Springer |
Place of Publication | Fairbanks |
Publisher | Alaska Sea Grant, University of Alaska, Fairbanks |
Pages | 153-171 |
Number of pages | 18 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-1-56612-171-2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Dec 2012 |