The European flat oyster ( Ostrea edulis ) as an agent of marine rewilding? Toward the deployment of a network,norms and practices in the Netherlands

Abstract

Marine rewilding initiatives targeting the reintroduction of flat oyster reefs are flourishing throughout Europe. This paper studies the extent to which marine rewilders are molding flat oyster into a “rewilding agent”, by studying the “Rewilding the North Sea” program run by the Dutch association ARK Rewilding Nederland. Drawing on both Actor-Network Theory and environmental ethics through discourse analysis, this paper analyzes the constitution of a socio-ecological collective surrounding the flat oyster, producing a specific socio-technical artefact and throwing up several controversies at the social, political and scientific levels. It shows that various stakeholders (environmental NGOs, research centers, aquaculture farms and offshore windmill parks) have formed a collective surrounding the flat oyster. This collective faces common barriers relating to the scientific, technical and legal limits of the spat-on-shell rearing and reintroduction process, expanding the network formed around the flat oyster with public authorities and fishing communities. At the heart of this process, the flat oyster is revealed as an actor in its own right, driven by its agency that tests the limits of human systems, creating an evolving nature–human ecosystem. Furthermore, the article opens up a discussion about the evolution and adaptation of the concept and practices of rewilding, for application to the marine realm. It hypothesizes that the social, political and natural peculiarities of coastal ecosystems’ pose a challenge for rewilding and reinforce some contradictions of this conservation approach.