why st. pierre and miquelon ?
Recent archeological work has documented traces of human presence up to about 5000 yrs BP and indicated an indigenous population may have used the archipelago until the end of the 15th century. After the English sponsored expeditions of John Cabot (who reported the discovery of Newfoundland in 1497) numerous other expeditions explored and mapped the region and the Saint-Pierre et Miquelon archipelago appears on world maps by 1500. From this period onward, the islands were occupied by cod fishing and whaler crews of different nationalities during the season. By the mid 17th century, Europeans had organised a permanent presence on the archipelago.
In Coronelli's 17th century map of the fishing grounds around Newfoundland he places an oversized Saint Pierre et Miquelon at the center. The mapmaker clearly wished to emphasise the advantageous situation of the archipelago.
SOURCE: collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, ark:/12148/btv1b53142690d
From this point onward, cod were exploited by both Canadian and French fishermen at an increasing rate until the stock collapsed during the 1970s; by the 1990s a moratorium was declared on the cod fishery.
This episode forced residents to reconsider their local economic and business models within the constraints of a spatially limited resource landscape over an extremely short time period. The knock-on effects for the community have been significantly negative and long-lasting, leading to the current situation where Saint-Pierre et Miquelon receives (per capita) the highest amount of public funds in the Republic. Indeed, according to the most recent reports (1), nearly half the working age population is employed by the state and exports make up only 10% of the PIB (down from 49% in 1992 when the moratorium was declared).
From the point of view of Ecology, the dynamics of exploited resources depends on the ecological communities of fauna and flora in which exploited species live, among many other unexploited species. The dynamics of populations depend on local demographic processes and on regional processes which define the physical connectivity (such as water currents) between different groups. From a Social point of view, the economic market of exploited species populations (including exploitation to transformation and commercialisation) attached to the exploitation of renewable resources also has nested local and regional components. As with any economic activity, resource exploitation can create conflicts with many other activities and populations and should always be studied in global management frameworks.
Currently, the goal of sustainability is becoming a political problem for societies around the planet. Decisions implemented by authorities at different levels can favour, or, on the contrary, slow down progress toward ecosystem sustainability. Hence, both political decisions and economic costs have to be monitored and their consequences included in ecological studies (2). Nonetheless, many blockages exist (2,3) before these impacts can be reliably evaluated. Most significantly ecology itself has yet to develop the body of theories and tools necessary for providing the predictions necessary to address these issues (3,4).
In this case, the creation of such a site-of-interest for long term socio-ecological studies constitutes a distinct advantage for the local community because it creates a dedicated reservoir of scientific data and expertise about the functioning of the ecosystems on which SPM depends. Despite the significant challenges mentioned above, this already constitutes - with existing modelling tools - a means to re-evaluate what is known about the ecological functioning and possible future trajectories.
Research activities in the SEEG-ASPM are structured by the following themes :
#HistoricalEcology
Collecting and analysing documents and data archived from early workers, both in official national archives located on Saint-Pierre, and in other institution, such as IFREMER. Initiate a dialogue between ecologists, historians, mathematicians and sociologists to develop an integrated vision of past and present resource exploitation.
#CLIMATE
Monitoring and modelling environmental (atmospheric, terrestrial and marine) parameters around the archipelago to build an integrated database describing the local variability and heterogeneity. Modelling focuses on quantifying the influence of this variability on the growth of commercial and indicator species.
#ECOLOGY
Understanding through both experiments, observations and modelling the behaviour of emblematic benthic species (e.g. lobster, whelk, scallop). Characterising existing ecosystems and inventorying species in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
#OBSERVATION
Developing three different observatories: (1.) Marine Environment around the Archipelago ; (2.) Water Quality (including acoustics) in the Bay of Saint-Pierre ; and (3.) Governance in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, decision-making and consequences for the ecosystem sustainability. *
#IMPACT
Developing new techniques to monitor impact, with an emphasis on low cost, non intrusive and remote observation techniques. Assessing impact of socio-economic activities on ecosystem functioning through System-Based Environmental Impact Assessment. In collaboration with Shawn Hinz of Gravity Marine (USA).
#GOVERNANCE
Constructing from in-depth interview methods and observation a description of the networks of decision measures. The objective is to provide a rational behind social interactions that intervene in decision-making processes, concerning the management of socio-ecosystem of the Archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. This includes analysing recently uncovered ethnographic archives from Dr. Aliette Geistdoerfer’s research, which pre-date the cod fishing moratorium. *
Notes and References
*This topic is under the direction of Dr. C. Mazé (CNRS).
(1) "Evaluation du PIB de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon en 2015". Note expresse N° 489 Février 2018. IEDOM - AFD (Banque de France), www.iedom.fr
(2) Mazé, C. et al. 2017. Knowledge and power in integrated coastal management. For a political anthropology of the sea combined with the sciences of the marine environment, Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 349 (6–7): 359-368. doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2017.09.008.
(3) Johnson AF and Lidström S. 2018. "The Balance between concepts and complexity in ecology." Nature Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0507-5
(4) Coston-Guarini, J. 2016. "Epistemic values of historical information in marine ecology and conservation." Dissertation. Université de Bretagne Occidentale. 311 pp. 2016BRES0124.