ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Fishing across the Curtain: Soviet Fisheries Science as International Development

• In Event: Contested Fishscapes: Fisheries, Science, and Development in the Twentieth Century

English Abstract

This paper explores the entanglement of Soviet fisheries science and international organizations during the Cold War period to reveal how Soviet fisheries science came to be used in pursuit of global development goals. Based on materials from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) archives, the paper centres joint training courses in fisheries techniques, hosted by the FAO on board Soviet vessels and in Soviet research institutes. These events offered officials and scientists from the developing world and FAO staff access to cutting-edge Soviet fisheries knowledge, even though USSR never joined the organization. In particular, seminars on board active vessels allowed FAO and Soviet officials to work together to find new species and commercial fishing grounds, and to share knowledge that would improve the efficiency of fishing globally. This expansion of fishing was pursued in the name of development, not commercial interest, as a solution to problem of hunger and nutrition around the world. The paper reveals a triangulation and co-creation of fishing knowledge between Soviet scientists and fisheries workers, fisheries experts from North African countries, and international representatives of the FAO, all in cooperation with the marine species they sought to fish. This expanded geography of Cold War era science reveals how Soviet fisheries science became embedded in the international scientific community, and how Soviet ideas about fish and prawns were mobilized in the service of sometimes conflicting ideals of development, oceanic regulation, and international organization in the era of the Cold War.

Author

• Elizabeth Banks, University of Edinburgh