Paper short abstract:

Based on an ethnography, this paper looks at the contrasting movements of categorisation and expertise on seals, from the mid-twentieth century, which questions the species and the way in which these emblematic animals are protected.

Paper long abstract:

Due to environmental and political changes, the way in which seals are viewed in the Western world has evolved. Since the mid-twentieth century, pinnipeds have been thought of in the singular, as a unique group to be protected from exploitation. The figure of the "baby seal" became the only known category, even in Canadian legislation. During the 2000s, other seals appeared. Grey seals, another species known by coastal communities but forgotten by politicians, managers and NGOs, are now increasingly on the Atlantic coasts (Canada, United Kingdom, France). They are seen as "over-protected", settling in protected areas, little used by humans.

These seals reveal problems of cohabitation in ecosystems, for example the non-recovery of groundfish (such as cod) in Atlantic waters. Thus, a pluralisation of species has emerged in an ambivalent way in the discourses and the deployment of expertise. At the same time, biological research is seeking to understand differences in the behaviour of these marine predators, particularly in order to understand depredation phenomena.

Based on ethnography (Magdalen Islands, Quebec) and qualitative research (semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis and observations) conducted between 2019 and 2021 in Canada and France, this paper proposes to present these pluralisation and individualisation movements in order to question seal conservation practices based on different categorisations (speciesist or not), which coexist in time and space.