Paper short abstract:

Blue crabs, a non-native species in Sicily's coast, are figured both as monster and potential resource. This paper examines this dual figuration to ask what might happen when monsters are commodified.

Paper long abstract:

The recent arrival of a new marine species – the blue crab – in Sicily’s coastal waters concerns fishing communities and conservationists alike. Famed for their voracity, blue crabs are figured monstrously, as invasive aliens, war machines, and cannibals. What to do with a hungry, monstrous species? The proposed solution – eat them – suggests that monsters can be managed through commodification.

This paper examines the dual figuration of blue crabs as resource and monster to ask what makes blue crabs monstrous, as well as explore the suggestion to turn them into a fish-able commodity and food. As “feral effects” of shipping infrastructures, blue crabs’ expansive capacities allow them to claim the sea in ways that are both out of human control and counter to human projects, marking their monstrosity. However, framing them as a resource may permit other kinds of expansions. Prior to fieldwork proper, this paper begins to theoretically think through what might happen when monsters are commodified.