The Trouble with Fish: Examining the Political History of Fish Consumption Advisories in New York State

• In Event: 046 - Section on Environment and Technology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Environmental Policy and Governance

Abstract

Sociological literature on environmental inequalities has yet to examine the act of foraging in contaminated environments, nor has it interrogated the historical bases for why many environmental inequalities are addressed by the state through voluntary policies aimed at regulating individual exposure and/or consumption. To help address this lacuna this paper examines the political history of fish consumption advisories (FCAs), or voluntary state recommendations for foraging and consuming fish from compromised waters in New York State. Findings show that the origins of this policy are complex. State environmental agencies must acknowledge the risk of subsistence angling in contaminated environments in order to remain legitimate environmental authorities, but must do so in a way that promotes the continuation of recreational and commercial angling in order to remain in line with their institutional history. This history was and remains to be strongly aligned with the conservation movement, a movement geared towards both support for recreators as well as the generation of capital revenue from natural resources. The scientific data that informs recommendations found within FCAs is substantially mediated by this political and institutional history in that this science is generated for the purpose of assessing the economic impacts of recreational fishing so waters are managed as efficiently as possible. These activities, however, ignore peoples who do not only fish for recreation but also for subsistence. Ergo this policy aims to regulate individuals independent of gendered, classed, racialized and other forms of difference that structure people’s relationships with the state, water, contamination and fish.

Author

• Jordan Fox Besek, University of Oregon