The involvement of actors in the English Channel through a socio-ecological approach applied to artificial reefs

Abstract

For more than fifty years, Artificial Reefs (AR) have been deployed in France to respond to the decline in fish stocks with a high deployment on the Mediterranean coast. However, from 40 sites listed, less than a quarter have not been the subject of any known published ecological or socio-economic monitoring reports, over the past five years. The lack of data on the evaluation of these structures therefore raises questions about their interest, both from an ecological and social point of view. By relying on the theory of organizations and more specifically on the translation resulting from the sociology of innovation applied to the environment, we will develop an original socio-ecological approach intended to meet this need for evaluation, in particular for managers. Based on two case studies on the coasts of the French Channel (Etretat and Cherbourg), we will highlight the interests and roles of human and non-human actors in an AR immersion process. The analysis will highlight the social and ecological objectives of these two projects from an analytical framework designed to verify the adequacy between the socio-ecological network "artificial reefs" formed and the objectives initially expected by the actors, especially decision-makers and funders. The limits posed by these approaches to improve the evaluation of artificial reefs will finally be discussed.