You Wouldn't Spawn in a Septic Tank, Would You?

Environmental effects of salmon farming are controversial issues. In Northern Norway, cod fishers argue that the location of salmon pens in fjords results in the cessation of local cod spawning. Research supporting or rejecting such statements is scant. There is an absence of both short-term and long-term studies on the effects that salmon farming may have on wild fish stocks. There are few studies of local ecosystem relationships in general. This article explores fishers' arguments about the effects of salmon farming. It discusses methods of assessing the reliability and validity of fisher knowledge, and contributes to the discussion on assets and limitations of narrative data and experiential knowledge.