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The Metabolic Rift and Marine Ecology

An Analysis of the Ocean Crisis Within Capitalist Production

University of Oregon, rclausen{at}darkwing.uoregon.edu

Brett Clark

University of Oregon, blc30155{at}darkwing.uoregon.edu

This article develops a theoretical foundation for understanding the human influence on the oceans and the resulting oceanic crisis as it relates to the depletion of fish stock and the expansion of aquaculture. Drawing on environmental sociology and insights from the historical materialist tradition, the authors study the nature-society dialectic as it relates to human interactions with the ocean for the capture of fish. We extend Marx’s concept of the metabolic rift to the marine environment to (a) understand the human transformations of the ocean ecosystem, (b) examine the anthropogenic (human-generated) causes of fish stock depletion, (c) study the development of aquaculture in response to the oceanic crisis, and (d) reveal the ecological consequences of ongoing capitalist production in relation to the ocean environment.

Key Words: metabolic rift • historical materialism • multinational corporations • commodification • ocean fishing • aquaculture

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