Like many other invasive species, the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) appears as one of the main threats to the protection and preservation of biodiversity in the Mediterranean area (Mannino, Balistreri, 2021). Its strong claws damage fishermen’s equipment as well as putting in danger autochthone fish. Alien invasive species presence is determined by several factors: voluntary introductions, such as aquaculture, or aquariophilia; involuntary introductions such as migrations from the Suez Canal; and maritime traffic through ships’ ballast water (Bella, et al, 2007) Their ability to proliferate and settle in the territory is caused in the first instance by the warming of the sea, and the consequent tropicalization of the Mediterranean. However, allochthonous species, analyzed from a critical perspective, are the uncanny symbol of the Anthropocene and Capitalism. While it is well established that since the past, animal movements have produced new forms of naturalization, it is since the "discovery of America" and before, that the process appears as a form of Imperialism (Crosby2004). Accelerated by the global movements of capitalist society, animals have been catapulted as commodities and objects (Collard, 2020) into alien habitats. The proposal aims to provide an alternative vision of the presence of invasive alien species with a focus on the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) I will analyze the polymorphism that such entities activate from contact with different actors and how it acts as a propeller for new forms of imagination: How do biologists must think of new tools for protection? How does invasiveness is seen from a social and cultural perspective? How do these species manipulate seascapes? Following the "lines" (Ingold, 2020) of the Blue Crabs we can analyze the interconnections and the entanglements that constitute the “assemblages” (Bear, 2017), which are in this specific case the allochthonous species, moving from the goal of biosecurity to the reasons of their presence.
Fanto', M. (2023). Alien Invasive Species as assemblages: a critical analysis. Intervento presentato a: The Ocean and Seas in Geographical Thought - IGU Thematic conference, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italia.
Alien Invasive Species as assemblages: a critical analysis
Fanto', M
2023
Abstract
Like many other invasive species, the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) appears as one of the main threats to the protection and preservation of biodiversity in the Mediterranean area (Mannino, Balistreri, 2021). Its strong claws damage fishermen’s equipment as well as putting in danger autochthone fish. Alien invasive species presence is determined by several factors: voluntary introductions, such as aquaculture, or aquariophilia; involuntary introductions such as migrations from the Suez Canal; and maritime traffic through ships’ ballast water (Bella, et al, 2007) Their ability to proliferate and settle in the territory is caused in the first instance by the warming of the sea, and the consequent tropicalization of the Mediterranean. However, allochthonous species, analyzed from a critical perspective, are the uncanny symbol of the Anthropocene and Capitalism. While it is well established that since the past, animal movements have produced new forms of naturalization, it is since the "discovery of America" and before, that the process appears as a form of Imperialism (Crosby2004). Accelerated by the global movements of capitalist society, animals have been catapulted as commodities and objects (Collard, 2020) into alien habitats. The proposal aims to provide an alternative vision of the presence of invasive alien species with a focus on the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) I will analyze the polymorphism that such entities activate from contact with different actors and how it acts as a propeller for new forms of imagination: How do biologists must think of new tools for protection? How does invasiveness is seen from a social and cultural perspective? How do these species manipulate seascapes? Following the "lines" (Ingold, 2020) of the Blue Crabs we can analyze the interconnections and the entanglements that constitute the “assemblages” (Bear, 2017), which are in this specific case the allochthonous species, moving from the goal of biosecurity to the reasons of their presence.
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