Fish versus Power: An Environmental History of the Fraser River

Fish versus Power is an environmental history of the Fraser River (British Columbia) and the attempts to dam it for power and to defend it for salmon. Amid contemporary debates over large dam development and declines in fisheries, this book offers a case study of a river basin where development decisions did not ultimately dam the river, but rather conserved its salmon. Although the case is local, its implications are global as Evenden explores the transnational forces that shaped the river, the changing knowledge and practices of science, and the role of environmental change in shaping environmental debate. The Fraser is the world’s most productive salmon river; it is also a large river with enormous waterpower potential. Very few rivers in the developed world have remained undammed. On the Fraser, however, fish - not dams - triumphed, and this book seeks to explain why.