Gone with the Clam

Abstract

The Goro Lagoon, located at the southern edge of the Po River Delta, is considered a major European site for clam farming. Following the advent of the Manila Clam ‘revolution’ in the 1980s, the local community transitioned from traditional fishing to a mono-focalised ecological infrastructure focused on aquaculture. However, in the last decade, anthropogenic climate alterations have severely impacted the lagoon and its industrial system, triggering a series of accelerated proliferations of macroalgae and non-indigenous species – the Atlantic Blue Crab being the most prominent one. The article investigates the eco-cultural entanglement of the Goro Lagoon and critically explores the multispecies correspondences that excited its biosocial becoming. Thus, the concept of ‘arrangement’ is employed to question both local representations of clam farming and the feral disturbances endangering its feasibility. Finally, ethical and political implications are discussed in light of the cultural expectations of controllability embedded in the technocratic administration of the lagoon.

Keywords

• Clam farming. Climate change. Environmental anthropology. Goro Lagoon. Multispecies ethnography. Non-indigenous species. Po River Delta