Amelia Hesketh1, Alyssa Allchurch1, Claire Attridge1, Sarah Gutzmann1, Leona Humchitt2, Kylee Pawluk3, Andrew Wright1, 4, Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor1, Anne Salomon1
1Simon Fraser University, Canada - 2Heiltsuk Nation, Canada - 3Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Government of British Columbia, Canada - 4Willow Grove Foundation, Canada
Ecological systems are embedded within broader social, economic, and political contexts, leading to complex feedbacks between small-scale, fast-moving variables and large-scale, slow-moving variables. In temperate coastal seas, kelps are a prime example; they are ecologically important as habitat and food for many organisms today and have been vital in supporting the evolution of coastal cultures, fisheries, and food sovereignty practices for millennia. While kelp has long been harvested by coastal communities at a local scale for food, tools, and fertilizer, blue economic development is encouraging the proliferation of wild kelp harvest and mariculture at a global scale for applications in biofuels, bioplastics, and additives to food, cosmetics, and livestock feed. Scaling up these activities is viewed by some as low risk because their carbon and ecological footprints are assumed to be small, but cumulative effects across spatiotemporal scales remain understudied. Here, we use a systems thinking approach to identify the key cross-scale interactions, constraints, and conflicts within kelp socioecological systems. We find that ocean warming is creating a “squeeze”, with kelp caught between its own physiological limits and the weight of expectation created by climate-reactionary blue economic policy. If policy and industry actors do not prioritize sustainability and equity as kelp activities intensify, we risk disrupting both ecological interactions and long-held relationships between kelp and coastal peoples. To mitigate these risks, we suggest that larger-scale kelp policy decisions should be made jointly with coastal communities to respect and amplify local leadership, objectives, and knowledge. Globally and locally, this requires upholding the inherent rights and responsibilities of Indigenous communities. Through this work, we hope to help guide current ecological and blue economic discourse about kelp towards a more sustainable, socially equitable future.
Biography
Dr. Amelia Hesketh is a postdoctoral fellow within Dr. Anne Salomon’s Ocean Relations Collaborative at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. There, Amelia is studying how kelp populations are shaped by local and global pressures, including heatwaves, bryozoan infestation, harvest, and policy landscapes using a highly collaborative approach. She completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Chris Harley in 2022.