Conserving Atlantic salmon ‘after nature’ on Newfoundland's Gander river

• Published in: BJHS Themes
• Main Authors: DANIELS, JENNIFER, MATHER, CHARLES
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2017
• Subjects: Canada; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/bjt.2016.15; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S2058850X16000151

Abstract This paper examines the history of Atlantic salmon conservation in Eastern Canada, with a specific emphasis on Newfoundland's Gander river. Conservation efforts for this iconic species begin in the late 1800s and continue through to the contemporary period. Our work is framed by current debates on the Anthropocene and its implications for environmental conservation. We identify two different historical phases in salmon conservation associated with different socio-ecological assemblages, and different conceptualizations of nature. Drawing on oral histories, we also reveal a third human–salmon entanglement associated with what we call the ‘wilful salmon’. The wilful salmon fits uneasily with the idea of conservation, and in some ways it seems contrary to conservation efforts. It is, nonetheless, a legitimate fish that deserves to be considered and evaluated in a world ‘after nature’.