PARENT SESSION
Oral Session 1 / Sesion Orales 1: Invasive Species / Invasivas
Moderated by: Mooney, Hal,
Wednesday, January 11 / Miercoles, 11 de Enero, 8:30 am - 12:30 pm, Salon Kabah, Level 1, Holiday Inn

Faustian salmonid ecologies.

Lam, Mimi^*,1, Gonzalez-Plaza, Roberto, ¹ University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

ABSTRACT- Faustian Salmonid Ecologies. Mimi E. Lam, University of British Columbia & University of New Mexico Roberto Gonzalez-Plaza, Northwest Indian College & Western Washington University Goethe wrote that Dr. Faust sold his soul to Mephistopheles for knowledge. Are we, like Faust, selling the universe to free market economy for the advancement of science and materialism? How do we define scientific progress? What are the limits of science. Should limits be imposed? How do we prevent science from becoming irreversibly Faustian? Let us begin the dialogue by examining two Faustian examples of market forces and science generating unforeseeable ecological and cultural impacts: 1) farmed Atlantic and Pacific salmon in Pacific waters and 2) introduced salmon in Chilean waters. Initially hailed as the solution to dwindling fish and shellfish supplies and cheaper dietary protein, the tsunami-like growth of aquaculture threatens to transform the human-ocean balance. The potential for colonization, disease transfers, genetic hybridization, and cultural impacts of farmed and introduced salmon will be analyzed from the perspective of evolutionary niche construction, where genetic, ecological, and cultural inheritance factors are interweaved. Aquaculture operations infringe upon traditional territories, where indigenous communities have co-evolved with native salmon and other species for thousands of years. If farmed salmon escape and colonize to out-compete or infest, i.e., by sea lice, the indigenous stocks, the common resource pool of wild salmon stocks can be decimated while farmed salmon populations, belonging to a few global industries, may colonize and shift even further historical social and economic imbalances. We focus on the struggle of the Homalco First Nation in British Columbia against the licensing bid by Marine Harvest Canada, a subsidiary of the global Norwegian aquaculture leader, to farm Atlantic salmon in their Church House finfish farming operations, located in traditional Homalco territory. We discuss the impact to the Homalco Nation sense of place and cultural loss if the native salmon are compromised by the farmed species. We advocate an ecosystem-based governance approach as a management praxis of salmon, other marine aquaculture, and ourselves towards sustainable bio-cultural diversity

SPANISH ABSTRACT- Las Ecologias Faustianas de Salmones Mimi E. Lam, University of British Columbia & University of New Mexico Roberto Gonzalez-Plaza, Northwest Indian College & Western Washington University Segun Goethe, el Dr Fausto vendio su alma a Mefistofeles a cambio de conocimiento. Como Fausto, estamos vendiendo el Universo a la economia de libre mercado a cambio de ciencia y materialismo? Como se define progreso cientifico? Cuales son los limites de la ciencia? Debe haber limites? Se puede prevenir que la ciencia se transforme en un proceso faustiano irreversible? Examinemos dos ejemplos : 1) cultivo de salmon pacifico y atlantico en aguas del Pacifico y 2) salmon introducido en aguas chilenas. El crecimiento tsunamico de la industria de acuacultura, a pesar de su promesa de salvacion, amenaza cualquier promesa de equilibrio oceano/humanidad. Examineremos desde la perspectiva de "construccion de nichos ecologicos" el impacto de la colonizacion, transferencia de enfermedades, hibridacion genetica de salmonidos cultivados o introducidos en el ecosistema. Las operaciones de cultivos e introduccion de salmones transgreden los territorios milenarios ancestrales de comunidades indigenas. Los stocks de salmonidos nativos pueden ser decimados por enfermedades o desplazados de sus nichos. Se analiza la lucha de la Nacion Homalco en British Columbia en contra de Marine Harvest Canada. Se discute la perdida cultural y la perdida del 'sentido territorial Homalco" si no se protege su modo de vida en base a su relacion con los salmones. Sugerimos que la relacion con los salmones se ejercita en una praxis coherente de gobierno de ecosistemas y acuaculturas en busca de diversidad biocultural.