Feeding fish efficiently. Mobilising knowledge in Tasmanian salmon farming

Abstract

How do certain forms of knowledge become globally mobile? Focusing on Tasmanian salmon farming, this article addresses the negotiation of locally situated knowledge against the persuasive power of universalising expertise. It is argued that intensive salmon farming relies upon techno-scientific regimes of production in which the universality of salmon as biogenetic artefact is already inscribed. Intensive salmon farming thus lends itself well to the need for legibility and abstract calculations of large-scale capitalism. The alliance between scientific and economic interests pushes towards greater technological sophistication, and, in turn, towards a standardisation of salmon as a global universal artefact.