Troubled Waters : The Return of the Baltic Sea Seal – a Political Ecology

Sammanfattning

The seal in the Baltic Sea is a celebrated case of ecological recovery. Decreases in ecotoxins, regulations, and protections have improved the environment for seals, who are today abundant. However, the seal increase has also raised concerns among fisheries about commercial fish stocks and coastal livelihoods. The historical interpretation of the seal connects local histories with the emergence of Baltic Sea governance in the 1900s. In this thesis, I have reviewed historical and academic research, policy, debates, and life stories in order to entangle the human-seal relationship in the Baltic Sea. I trace the sealing controversy and the accompanying debates that emerged in the late 1800s and early 1900s, around the 1970s and 2000s, in comparison with the modern-day debate (2015-2025) that deals with several anthropogenic-environmental anxieties related to ocean biodiversity as well as fisheries management and sustainability. In this historical and political ecology, the seal is considered a posthuman, affective, biopolitical animal through its habitation of the Baltic Sea. Through conversations with stakeholders involved in fishing and seal hunting and related debates, different perspectives on the seal arise. Exploring how different actors relate to the socio- ecological realities of living with seals, I consider how we can make room for both the fishing industry and seals along the Baltic Sea coasts, while paying attention to the seal animal history and lifeworld.