Description

Available December 2021. <p><em>Fishing Measures</em> investigates the introduction and development of fisheries science to Newfoundland’s saltfishery between the 1880s and 1930s. It demonstrates a shift in fishing expertise and authority in the organization of the saltfishery, from embodied fishers knowledge governed by colonial authority to modern scientific state management. It situates this shift in the history of capitalism, by showing how the development of abstract scientific knowledge is an integral component of the development of capitalist value relations.</p>
<p>Through theoretically-sensitive archival research,<em> Fishing Measures</em> trawls a variety of sources to document the introduction of scientific knowledge to all phases of saltfish production: from extraction to processing to consumption. The empirical sections of the book document scientific developments in artificial propagation, the knowledge of life-history and movements of cod, curing techniques, and cod liver oil production. The introduction and conclusion contextualize this narrative in a subterranean school of political economy known as ‘form analysis.’ Fishing Measures contributes to contemporary debates regarding the relationship between capitalism, the environment, and science.</p>