Finnished expertise? Slithery knowledge and practices of salmon loss in a sub-arctic river catchement

Abstract (English)

In the mid-20th century, the Kiiminkijoki river rapids in northern Finland were dredged and its peatlands drained for intensive forestry, agriculture, and peat extraction. Water quality in the region has since heavily degraded, and migratory fish—including the highly valued and culturally important salmon—have all but disappeared. Active debates are ongoing regarding the need to preserve rich area knowledge and ensure new generations take active interest in local environment and livelihoods so that cultural and ecological vitality are preserved. At present, younger community members are migrating to cities, leaving much local knowledge and cultural practices forgotten. In this paper, I discuss how socio-political developments in recent decades have led to transformations in local environmental expertise and the area’s once-diverse ecological practices, and how these have competed with one another over time at different (e.g. local, regional, state, supranational) levels. These take place across four key frames of expertise: 1) residents’ understanding of salmon, game, and wild berries (local ecological knowledge); 2) timber and forestry practices that have directly shaped the rapids (state-level terraforming capacity); 3) drainage of peatlands (irrigation practices linked to urbanization, timber, and energy needs); and 4) EU aims to restore and engineer ecosystems to avoid further biodiversity loss, as 15% of this catchment falls under Natura 2000 (pan-national ecosystem management expertise). The paper seeks to show how knowledge is created and contested among activists, volunteers, scientists, and regional policy-makers.