Georgeta Stoïca (University of Mayotte)
discussant: Franz Krause (University of Cologne)
Georgeta Stoica is an associate professor at the University of Mayotte (France). Presently, she coordinates the AQUAMARINE 2.0 research project on marine educational areas in the Indian Ocean (Mayotte, Reunion island and Madagascar). She has a long fieldwork experience in the French overseas territory mainly in Mayotte and Reunion island and she’s actually working on human-nature interaction. In the past she did fieldwork in the Danube delta (Romania) focusing on the conflict concerning the access to natural resources.
Abstract: This talk analyzes the rapid transformation of a Danube Delta fishing village into a touristic village and proposes an anthropological approach to conservation conflicts. Particular focus will be given to the ban of commercial fishing of wild sturgeons (Acipenseridae) that had a dramatic impact on the inhabitants of the Danube Delta and contributed even more to the development of poaching activities. I want to raise here the question of limits of nature conservation and conflict concerning the access to natural resources which left aside the local population and accused them of destroying the “paradise among the waters”.