Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus: The political power of a small infectious agent

This paper has the purpose of analyzing the ISA virus scientific issue in British Columbia with a focus on the last three days of the Cohen Commission of inquiry. I use Science, Technology and Society as a main theoretical framework to approach the issue and Postcolonial and Political Economy framework to address the controversy in a critical way that underlines the social and political implications of ISA. The method used to conduct the research is a case study supported with document analysis. The research showed the possibility of a highly politicized scientific field and the possibility of government and industry influence in the decision- making regarding the presence of the virus in BC. The failure to find a real solution for the controversy can be associated with the impossibility of science to be the only institutionalized knowledge producer in regards to resource management. It is recommended a more significant collaboration with First Nations and an inclusion of their knowledge production as scientifically valid.