Models of equilibrium, natural agency and environmental change: lay ecologies in UK recreational angling

Abstract

Eden, S., Bear, C. (2011). Models of equilibrium, natural agency and environmental change: lay ecologies in UK recreational angling. Transaction of the Institute of British Geographers, 36 (3), 393-407.This paper studies how anglers in northern England invoke models of equilibrium and 'the balance of nature' in making sense of the water environments where they regularly fish, and how they use these models as norms or ideals when designing environmental management, alongside an emphasis on natural agency and unpredictability. Like other publics, anglers are shown to be a heterogeneous group in how they think about nature and their 'lay ecologies' reflect the problematic way in which equilibrium is normalised in science and policy more generally, showing similarities with professional environmental managers. But anglers are unusual publics, because their lay ecologies are put to work in collectively managing water environments, through stocking, culling and habitat management. Thus anglers' environmental knowledge practices co-produce the environments in which they develop their lay ecologies, making their models of nature and equilibrium important both conceptually and materially.Peer reviewe

The Good, the Bad, and the Hands-on: Constructs of Public Participation, Anglers, and Lay Management of Water Environments

“…Nonanglers may also be managed: being excluded from riparian zones by notices and bailifñng, and admonished for speeding through fords or littering. This lay management reflects the more general moral ordering of the countryside through enforcing 'correct' behaviourin this case not through state legislation and prosecution, but through social norms (or private '"We discuss the human-animal interactions involved in angling and these varied management practices in more detail in two other papers Eden and Bear, 2011). *' ' ' Club bailiffs have no statutory powers beyond those of other anglers, all of whom have the right to request to see anyone's rod licence, but EA bailiffs are "treated as if they were a police constable with the same powers of arrest, search and seizure" under the 1975 Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act (Carty and Payne, 1998, page 23) prosecution in the case of ACA/Fish Legal).…”

Animal disease and narratives of nature: Farmers' reactions to the neoliberal governance of bovine Tuberculosis

“…These 'lay ecologies' of nature (Eden and Bear, 2011) are critical in terms of how farmers rationalise and respond to different neoliberal management options to control bTB. Farmers are in favour of badger culling because it will rebalance nature, whilst beliefs in the overpopulation of badgers also rule out badger vaccination because of the large numbers of badgers that would need to be vaccinated and the associated cost and practical difficulties.…”

“…Narratives and beliefs of nature and wildlife have been shown to be influential in the acceptance of management plans for a range of different environmental problems (Dandy et al, 2012;Eden and Bear, 2011;Robbins, 2006). This paper seeks to extend these analyses to show how farmers' understandings of disease and nature correspond with the imaginations of nature and disease within different market-based approaches to the management of animal disease.…”

Eco-Islam: Beyond the Principles of Why and What, and Into the Principles of How

“…A state of nonequilibrium may be driven by the overconsumption, misuse, or in the case of GMOs scientifically intervening to alter natural resources. Eden and Bear (2011) studied how anglers' model for the preservation of natural equilibrium (particularly water resources), but natural, occurring ecological disturbances can also result in a state of imbalance that can further challenge sustainability goals (Mori 2011). Human consciousness in maintaining the ecological equilibrium can help shape how they behave towards the environment and its components.…”