Fishing for People A Marine Social Scientist's Notes

Imagine who a marine conservationist might be. Close your eyes. Think about it for a bit. Is it someone who is immune to sea sickness? Someone bursting with interesting facts about marine critters? Someone whose idea of fun is observing seabirds to write a peer-reviewed paper about nesting patterns? You won’t be far off the mark. Most people who are “marine conservationists” do fit into this sort of image. This interest and knowledge is the product of much experience in coastal ecology, marine biology, ocean studies or some marine science related field. That’s why I tend to be the odd one out – when I introduce myself as an undergraduate Sociology major, I’m certain people must wonder what I’m doing studying coral reefs? 

 

The heavily nature-centric methods that ecological work requires is a departure from the people-oriented approach of social sciences. Though social research has adopted a scientific outlook along with statistical methods to add rigour to research, it still struggles to prove its empiricism in many respects. In fact, some postmodern outlooks on the desire for empiricism in academia and research reject it suggesting that even this approach is filled with many contradictions. While a study focused on bird counts can hope to claim accuracy based on best practices and good data documentation, social studies that involve interviews and direct interactions with subjects are rife with inconsistencies. Multiple analytical frameworks can be applied  to mould the meaning of the qualitative data at the investigator’s discretion.. 

However, this “inconsistency” is certainly a feature and not a bug – there is immense beauty in studying the many deviations and layers of human interactions. That’s where I come in! I am deeply interested in studying human nature constructions and understandings, of which scientific fish counts are a small part. 

 

Much to my good fortune, conservation has not remained the fortress of biologists and ecologists it used to be. People like me, who would much rather read obscure philosophical texts and social research papers instead of studies quantifying fish assemblages and community structures, can now hope to build a fruitful career in conservation.  There seems to be a general shift in the conservation space towards a more interdisciplinary (and thus, well-rounded) approach towards conservation. The inclusion of people from non - science backgrounds can create a fresh environment that yields new insights. 

 

For example, at our fieldwork site in Goa, focused on patchy coral reefs at near-coast islands, there are multiple inextricable links between these unique habitats and humans. When my colleagues count fish, I want to understand local community memories of fish harvest at the islands. When my colleagues document coral reefs, I want to document the cultural associations with the islands through the shrines that were installed there many years ago. When my colleagues look to understand the reasons for poor coral reef health, I want to understand the reasons for extractive practices in and around the islands.  

Simply put, there is no “nature” without people. Besides the absolutely unlivable, humans have managed to touch and influence almost every part of this world. Through fishing and other extractive practices, we have managed to create systems that sustain our dependence and contact with the oceans. Therefore, understanding these linkages, enabled through these systems, is a simply undeniable aspect of modern conservation. In Goa, we are making concerted efforts to manage and protect this area through a number of interventions. These interventions have to be sensitive to the livelihoods contingent on access to these islands – several SCUBA diving operations that collectively employ 30 - 40 people, and fishing communities that use the islands as shelter in rough weather and as a fishing spot. Newer models of protection are largely inspired by assertions of nature - dependent communities, with social research into these assertions giving them the importance they deserve. My hope is that our work, now increasingly focused on looking at coral reefs through a community-centric lens , creates equitable and fair strategies for conservation.

Dylan D'Souza