Noëlle Boucquey

Central to imagining and working toward alternate futures—futures more abundant, just, and caring than many in our more-than-human midst are experiencing now—is articulating the ways in which our present is already multiple, already pluriversal. Moreover, as academics interested in these ideals, we might consider it our political responsibility to share examples of the pluriverse where we find them. However, calls for illuminating and enacting the pluriverse are sometimes vague about what we can do beyond researching and publicizing important social movements. This paper argues that enrolling theories of care and commoning to examine everyday phenomena can be a powerful move toward identifying and amplifying the pluriverse. Care and commoning both foreground how more-than-human wellbeing is actively nurtured in collective, relational ways. Further, we argue that cities, outwardly prominent manifestations of “universal” capitalism, are in fact rich in pluriversality. The ways in which alternate realities (and possible futures) are performed is of course varied, uneven, and full of struggle. Here, we use a case study of urban fishing to document and amplify such performances as part of the project of moving toward abundant futures. We highlight especially the elements of urban fishing that resist a capitalist culture, namely, claiming time and space for rest, sharing, and connection with more-than-human others. In doing so, we show how the theoretical development of ideas of the pluriverse and abundant futures might be improved with focused empirical work.

Abstract: In many coastal areas shore-based fishing trips exceed boat-based trips, yet recreational fishing policy attention often disproportionately focuses on boat-based activities. In this talk we highlight the contributions of shore-based marine recreational fishing to individual and community wellbeing, discuss ways to assess shore-based fishing activities, and make recommendations for incorporating findings into management measures. We draw on our experience researching shore-based fishing in the Tampa Bay region of Florida, USA. Our work illustrates that individual fishers often derive key benefits from shore-based fishing such as improved mental health, improved quality and quantity of social connections, and increased access to fresh protein. Further, shore-based fishing locations often function as important “third places” (not home and not work) in coastal communities, where diverse groups of people have the opportunity to interact. In these spaces, community wellbeing is enhanced as regulatory, environmental, and fishing knowledge is shared amongst fishers, social connections beyond existing networks are made, and care for places and species is increased. Simultaneously, challenges like ethnic and gender prejudices, environmental degradation, and disinvestment by policymakers in coastal public spaces threatens the full realization of these individual and community benefits. We suggest that the contributions of shore-based fishing to wellbeing are important enough to warrant further attention. In particular, we recommend that fisheries managers: (1) make greater efforts to assess and value the set of individual and community benefits of shore-based fishing in their particular geographic area; (2) work with local and regional planning agencies to preserve the often-dwindling access to fishing spaces in coastal areas that continue to develop rapidly around the globe; and (3) better incorporate shore-based fishers, particularly those who may be food insecure, as key stakeholders in the overall ecological health of nearshore fisheries.

•Shore fishing spaces in urban areas are important examples of ‘third places’.•Open and equitable access to shore fishing spaces promotes collective wellbeing.•Attention to ‘flows of care’ beyond social interactions in these spaces is crucial.•Third places foster social cohesion and encourage concern for other human and more-than-human elements of the space.•Physical infrastructure, wildlife, and water quality play a role in wellbeing. ‘Third places,’ accessible public spaces that encourage social interaction and do not represent work or home to their users, contribute to individual and community health and wellbeing. These places, however, are quickly disappearing in the U.S. and beyond due to increasing privatization and commoditization of space. Based on six years of survey and ethnographic data collection in and around Tampa Bay, Florida, we characterize shore fishing spaces – piers, bridges, seawalls, etc. – as third places, important to the wellbeing of fishers, their families, and their communities, but also threatened by enclosure. We draw together literature on the health benefits of third places and social infrastructure with scholarship on infrastructures of care and the agency of “more-than-human” actors to draw attention to flows of care in these spaces. We argue that benefits to wellbeing emerge not just from the social interactions fostered by shared convivial space and activity, but also from the “care labor” performed by other biotic and abiotic elements, such as physical infrastructure and wildlife. Furthermore, we argue that an important function of many third places is that they turn their users’ flows of care outwards, from a focus on self-care to care for other people and elements of the space. We conclude with theoretical and practical discussion of the importance of attention to these flows of care in shore fishing spaces, specifically, and third places more generally.