A TRIPARTITE ECOLOGY: RESEARCHER, COMMUNITY, AND THE BENTHOS IN RELATIONAL MARINE SCIENCE

Abstract

There is a growing movement for marine spatial planning and other environmental decision-making to be inclusive of Indigenous Knowledge and respectful of Indigenous values. While Indigenous Peoples and communities continue to develop and publish guidance on what ethical and equitable research engagement should look like, the goals and processes of ecological research remain largely grounded in Western intrinsic and instrumental values. Largely, the natural sciences have yet to incorporate relational research frameworks, even when the research itself takes place in Indigenous territories. The research written about here is grounded in Nunatsiavut, a land-claims region within Canada. Since 2005, Nunatsiavut has had the right to manage its own marine resources. A principal part of its marine plan is to manage the sea according to Labrador Inuit values that focus on wellbeing, conservation, long-term access to marine resources, and living in good relation to the sea. Benthic plants and animals contribute enormously to the marine ecosystem’s overall health. The purpose of this work is to map the benthos within the larger social-ecological system in Nunatsiavut, and in doing so, build a reflexive process to understand how to nurture the tripartite research relationships between researcher, the subject of study (the benthos), and the communities that rely on them. To do this, I investigate the relationships between all three actors within benthic research. I first conducted a literature review to understand how and if benthic researchers across Inuit Nunaat report upholding Inuit guidelines for ethical and equitable engagement. I then looked at the researcher-community relationship within Nunatsiavut to see how and if researchers upheld their obligations to data sovereignty. Finally, after establishing research relationships in Nunatsiavut, I mapped the spatial and non-spatial relationships between Nunatsiavut communities and the benthos. In undergoing this iterative process, this research shows how a relational research framework can lead to more equitable and ethical research – and how equitable and ethical research leads to research innovations. This research highlights new methodological processes for mapping the benthos, demonstrating how grounding benthic science in relationality keeps the relationships between the benthos and communities intact throughout the research process. In doing so, results remain contextualized through Labrador Inuit experiences and knowledge, and can be much more useful for long-term, sustainable, and equitable marine management.