Should we adapt nature to climate change? Weighing the risks of selective breeding in Pacific salmon

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper uses the case of genomics-assisted selective breeding in Pacific salmon hatcheries to investigate how people weigh the risks of adapting nature to changing climate conditions. Drawing on 105 interviews with people involved in salmon management, this study embeds risk assessments of selective breeding in the context of present interventions into salmon life cycles. While responses to novel technologies are frequently plotted along a support-opposition continuum, the debate over selective breeding Pacific salmon is multivalent, with respondents supporting selective breeding in some contexts while opposing it in others. Nearly half of respondents supported selective breeding to fix the mistakes of past interventions and rewild salmon. Given that past problems have stemmed from technological responses, these findings paradoxically suggest that further interventions may not necessarily be perceived as violating values of naturalness or wildness. Genomic technologies offer new pathways for climate adaptation. In doing so, they expand ethical debates about the role of humans and novel technologies in conserving and managing wildlife.