Project description
A history of decline for salmon
Wild Atlantic salmon are disappearing. Once abundant, their numbers have plummeted by more than half since the 1980s. Dams disrupt migration routes, climate change warms the oceans, and farmed salmon spread disease. This crisis extends beyond ecology, affecting societies, cultures, and economies. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Salmon Time project takes a groundbreaking historical approach to studying this decline. Focusing on Ireland’s Lee, Erne, and Corrib rivers, it examines long-term human-salmon interactions through archival research, fieldwork, and oral histories. By shifting the focus from human to salmon temporalities, the project offers a novel perspective on ecological loss. Its findings will shape academic discourse and public understanding, highlighting the urgent need for conservation action.
Objective
This is the first history of the decline of wild Atlantic Salmon. Wild salmon world-wide are in jeopardy, their existence threatened by a host of factors, from dams blocking their migratory patterns, to ocean warming caused by climate change, to diseases spread by farmed salmon. Atlantic salmon in particular are in freefall, their population fell by more than half between the 1980s and the 2010s. The lives of salmon are intricately bound up with those of humans and other land and sea creatures. Their loss fundamentally impacts wider ecologies, societies, cultures and economies. There is a substantial body of scientific literature devoted to the decline of Atlantic salmon. However, the humanities, and history in particular have neglected this totemic species. The objective of this research is therefore to trace the ecological, social, and cultural impacts of the decline of wild Atlantic Salmon, through case studies of three rivers in Ireland; the Lee, the Erne and the Corrib. An historical approach offers a novel understanding of this crisis, providing a holistic notion of historical harm that encompasses often overlooked connections between social, cultural and ecological change. This project will start earlier than most scientific studies, in order to contextualise the longer human-salmon relationship. Crucially, I offer a new approach to historical time, that centres salmon rather than human temporalities. This will be achieved through the development of a new interdisciplinary methodology for studying ecological loss and decline, which combines traditional archival research with fieldwork and oral history. The project will result in three journal articles, a book proposal, three public history events and a website. The fellowship will provide an opportunity to enhance my research skills under the expert mentorship of Dr Kevin O’Sullivan, expand my international profile, develop my pedagogical practice, and secure an academic position at a European university.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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H91 Galway
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.