News from the Marine Governance Group
Our one-day retreat on the island Spiekeroog aimed to further strengthen the connections within our Marine Governance group and to explore the notion of “Belonging.” Already the passage to the island with the small speedboat, which rocked with every sigle wave, raised the question, “Do we actually belong here?“— on the water amidst all the ship traffic, right in the middle of the Wadden Sea National Park, surrounded by countless marine organisms that all depend on this rare and threatened habitat?
However, before we could discuss this and other questions as a group, we spent the first moments after our arrival on the island walking silently side by side, or individually from the harbor to the town centre. We captured impressions, thoughts, sounds, and photos in our Belonging Storybooks during this and another silent walk (from the town center towards the North Beach).
Another highlight of the day was the guided mudflat hike. Seeing the mudflats and the mud up close, smelling it, and feeling it under our feet was an eye-opener to this delicate and intensely human-impacted environment. Our guide invited us to intentionally sink deep into the mud and feel for cockles with our hands in the top layer of the mud. Soon, dark rain clouds quickly appeared, and a very typical nothern Germany feature—a symbol of belonging to Oldenburg—the rain jackets were put on. It was a kind of practice of belonging when working at HIFMB and living in Oldenburg.
The afternoon was spent exploring the town. For some, it appeared beautiful, green, and relaxing, while for others, it felt exclusionary and alienating. Different experiences, cultural backgrounds, financial situations, social structures, and many other factors determine whether you feel you belong or not. However, everyone felt comfortable with pizza, fish sandwiches, and ice cream. The collected impressions in the Belonging Storybooks were discussed in rotating small groups at the North Beach at the end of the day. The exchange and joint critical thinking on the topic will continue to be a part of the Marine Governance group in the future. Group members who are in the field or at conferences elsewhere in the world will receive their own storybooks by mail and use questions, ideas, and artistic approaches to engage with the theme of “Belonging with the Ocean.” Parts of our Storybooks, along with art-science interventions, a scientific lecture, and a workshop, will be presented at the first Marine Social Science Lecture, which will take place on November 20-21, 2024, at the HIFMB.
