Urban problems related to social inequality are often seen as disconnected from the concerns of ocean conservation. What does coral reef restoration have to do with access to affordable housing? In fact, these two spaces—the ocean and the city—are intricately related. Efforts to improve coastal habitats, especially those that may bring in tourism dollars, often go hand-in-hand with waterfront gentrification that displaces working-class and low-income communities—populations that rely on affordable housing options. This is a common pattern worldwide. The unique case of New York City’s harbor restoration, however, offers an opportunity to show two things: (1) that urban spaces are inextricable from marine spaces; and (2) achieving ocean justice is possible.
Ayana Johnson, marine biologist, defines ocean justice as the place “where ocean conservation and social justice intersect.” She goes on to argue that ocean injustice refers to the strong association between poor communities and communities of color, on the one hand, and the proximity to coastal environmental hazards like polluted water and storm surges, on the other. Additionally, these communities are the “most dependent on the ocean and suffer when there’s overfishing.”
Sociology explains that these racialized asymmetries in access and exposure are not coincidental, but systemic, and embedded in policies and practices that continue to marginalize low-income and people of color and privilege wealthy and white communities (Omi and Winant 2014). They are also inherently ecological. Understanding this dynamic—between social inequality and the environment—lies at the heart of the environmental (in)justice literature (e.g. Bullard 1990) (for a review see Mohai, Pellow and Roberts (2009)).
Take the case of sea-level rise. As many of us know, coastal cities like Miami, New Orleans, and New York, are at the frontlines of sea-level rise. What is often ignored, however, is the fact that Black and brown communities are the most vulnerable to flooding events because they are the least likely to receive federal and state emergency relief funding and, often, unable to readily relocate—a prime example being the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Unfortunately, the majority of efforts to curb the impacts of sea-level rise are colorblind, meaning there is no consideration for systemic racial injustice. Examples of race-aware policies would include steps to overcome the historical legacies of uneven racial development of land ownership and employment along coastlines, and avenues for participation in adaption planning (Hardy et al. 2017). Thus, as coastal urban areas continue to grow (home to approximately 40% of the US population), the effects of sea-level rise will only exacerbate racialized inequality—unless deliberate planning efforts to integrate urban spaces, inequality, and coastal adaptation, are made. In other words, we need ocean justice.
So, where do we see this already happening?
Take the case of New York. Prior to the industrialization of New York City’s harbor in the mid-1800s, New York was known as the “Big Oyster” because of the abundance of oysters in the Hudson River and East River estuaries. As the coastline of the city grew increasingly crowded with manufacturing facilities related to the garment industry and other millinery goods, the health of the harbor declined, as did the oyster beds.
Since WWII, industry has slowly left the city, leaving behind a predictable pattern of waterfront gentrification. In the immediate wake of the war, immigrants, communities of color, and working-class families moved into these contaminated formal industrial sites like Red Hook, many of which became prime locations for public housing. In more recent history, the quality of New York’s Harbor has greatly improved, enabling the expansion of high-income housing along the coastline. Not surprisingly, the very communities that have occupied neighborhoods like Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn for generations are now being displaced in exchange for wealthier and whiter populations.
In an effort to stem the tide of unchecked waterfront gentrification and continuing ocean injustice, the Billion Oyster Project (BOP) has focused its efforts on both promoting ocean conservation and social equity. Started in 2014 by two public school teachers at the Harbor School, the BOP seeks to restore one billion oysters to the harbor by 2035. To accomplish this goal, the BOP works with public school students in New York City to do the restoration work themselves, which includes learning marine biology and aquaculture, and developing job skills such as professional diving, vessel operations and technology, and marine policy and advocacy. Through this process, the very populations most vulnerable to displacement from waterfront gentrification are taking a leadership role in restoring the waterfront.
The long-term value is not only a more equitable distribution of actors involved in the science and policy-making of harbor conservation and the economic empowerment of at-risk communities, but also advances in urban climate adaptation. Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist at NYU, explains how oysters are not only ecosystem engineers but also integral in buffering the coastline from storm surges. To be effective, he writes, requires a heterogeneous constellation of experts and knowledge-types—something that the BOP is actively engaged in training.
Other examples of ocean justice in NYC include local efforts by recreational and subsistence anglers to restore Jamaica Bay, the expansion of the MTA ferry service to working-class neighborhoods, and institutional initiatives to track and reduce flooding along New York City’s southern shoreline through CUNY Brooklyn College.
The case of New York City’s oyster reef restoration is not alone in marrying social equity and ocean conservation in the urban context. Scholars and practitioners in Southeastern Louisiana outside New Orleans are working to implement a coastal climate adaptation plan that would both expand the blue-green economy through wetland restoration projects and promote historically marginalized groups. In practice, that would mean both employing Indigenous and Black laborers in the transition away from fossil fuel-based jobs (which dominate the region) and involving those same communities in long-term planning and policy-making. Ultimately, ocean justice is not only about understanding the disproportionate exposure to environmental harms by marginalized communities but also about acknowledging the unique ways in which these very social groups integrate ocean conservation, science and policy-making in the urban setting. In short, how are these populations mobilizing around ocean justice? Is it through public education? Policy adaptations? Public transit access? From coral reefs to oyster reefs, ocean justice is about protecting both the urban marine spaces and social groups that are most vulnerable to the persistent problems we face today.