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Paper short abstract:

Using the temporal narratives of two study cases, seagrass protection in the Mediterranean and toxic algal bloom management in the Baltic Sea, this paper discusses how stories of care, abuse and responsibility emerge at the cross-roads of science, politics, economics and everyday life interaction.

Paper long abstract:

The way humans interact with the sea and its nonhuman inhabitants is mediated by a long history of coexistence. Often, reports about marine ecosystems and call for actions in public campaigns introduce such coexistence though temporal narratives that describe a distant past of human negligence and abuse; a more recent past of international effort and environmental regulations; and a series of futures that depend on how those interventions continue to develop. This paper combines ethnography and documentary analysis to investigate the temporal narratives of two study cases: seagrass protection in the Mediterranean and toxic algal bloom management in the Baltic Sea. These situated cases illustrate human dependence on aquatic nonhumans: from everyday life practices to their key role in supporting dominant industries, societies rely on a good balance of life and death among marine life. In the management of marine life, the growth of different forms of life is promoted or constrained according to different visions about economic growth and more-than-human health. These are therefore sites of contention, while some actors and collectives defend removing existing human pressures and engaging in degrowth strategies, others defend the development of technologies and management strategies that make possible the continuation of extractive relations between humans and marine ecosystems. These stories of human negligence, recent realization and hopes of a better future help us to understand how care, abuse and responsibility emerge at the cross-roads between science, politics, economics and everyday life interaction between humans and marine ecosystems.