Annet Pauwelussen: "The future of past reefs: politics of care in oyster restoration across the North Atlantic"

ABSTRACT: 

A surge of marine restoration initiatives promises to bring reefs back from the brink of extinction. This represents a fundamental shift from ‘hands-off’ protection to ‘hands on’ intervention to reverse the on-going decline of ocean health, for example by building artificial reefs. Yet, in current times of ecological precarity, there is no ‘natural condition’ to go back to. Instead, restoration involves practices of care that shape new kinds of marine nature for an uncertain future. As a consequence, debate is rising around what is a ‘good nature’ – or reef – to restore? For whom? And what intervention is appropriate? Applying the feminist theoretical lens of ‘care' I re-conceptualize the politics involved in reef restoration. Despite its moral association of ‘doing good’, care is political. It is underpinned by different assumptions of what is a good and healthy reef, and what knowledge should guide intervention. How do such politics…