Paper short abstract:

While wild Atlantic salmon are severely threatened, images of wild salmon are central to the technoscientific development of salmon farming. I explore how the nature of salmon is reproduced through the lense of the wild, while boundaries between the wild and the domesticated are increasingly blurred.

Paper long abstract:

While wild Atlantic salmon are severely threatened in Northern Europe, images of wild salmon are increasingly central to the technoscientific development of the rapidly expanding intensive salmon farming world wide. This paper explores the interface and exchange between the wild and the domesticated in regions of recent Atlantic salmon domestication, such as Norway. I argue that the image of wild salmon takes on important roles in performing nature in several different ways. These include the portrayal of wild salmon in the marketing of farmed salmon, and the continuous exploration of the 'nature of salmon' through scientific investigation of the (wild) species. In particular, I draw attention to the increased emphasis on 'natural salmon behaviour', as a response to recent legal requirements regarding fish welfare, and the enrolment of wild and domesticated salmon to 'perform' nature in laboratory settings. More generally, I seek to explore how nature as a category is reproduced in a setting in which the boundaries between wild and domesticated are increasingly blurred.