The Oyster Question

A first-rate analysis of the interaction between science, environment, and politics alongside one of the nation’s oldest and most important conservation problems. This book will be necessary reading for anyone who wonders why good science doesn’t necessarily lead to good policy, in resources management or any other area.

* author of The Fisherman's Problem: Ecology and Law in the California Fisheries, 1850–1980 *

An exciting contribution to both the history of science and environmental history. In this case study of the Maryland oyster fishery, Keiner does an excellent job of combining these two historical perspectives to shed new light on the depths of a problem that has challenged all of the American oyster states since the early nineteenth century. Through her analysis, Keiner effectively reframes how environmental historians have analyzed histories of common resources and provides a working model for integrating historical and ecological information to bridge the histories of science and environmental history.

An imaginative environmental history that combines politics, science, and the work of watermen. By considering the limits of social science research in relationship to one state's unique legislative practices, Keiner makes a compelling argument for viewing natural resource struggles from multiple, locally situated perspectives.

Truly impressive. Keiner’s remarkably detailed scholarship taps into multiple emerging subfields. Her sustained analysis of nonelite perspectives will contribute enormously by introducing environmental historians to the importance of class, race, religion, and local tradition in the larger conservation picture.

* author of Common Lands, Common People: The Origins of Conservation in Northern New England *

In The Oyster Question, Christine Keiner adds depth and nuance to this more complex view of conservation. Tracing the history of scientific research and the oyster fishery in Chesapeake Bay, she demonstrates how science and conservation must be understood as local phenomena that are shaped by specific environmental and social contexts.

The Oyster Question is a must read for those of us who study the Chesapeake Bay and its oysters, for the watermen who still harvest oysters, and for watershed’s citizens whose daily economic, political and cultural life choices affect the health of North American’s largest estuary. The book provides the reader with a wide-range of information on history of the oyster fishery, the harvest practices and knowledge of watermen, race relations on the water, various key legislations and management policies that have shaped the oyster fishery, and the cultural importance of oysters to the region. These contributions alone make this one of the best, recent books written on the Chesapeake Bay.

* Environment and History *

Keiner's rich analysis of the politics of science and her insightful comparisons between governmental programs for farmers and those for fishermen demonstrate the importance of connecting the history of the marine landscapes to understandings of history on land.