Cheap and lively: metabolic geographies of the North Sea eel trade

Keywords: metabolic geographies, metabolism, urban political ecology, urban ecologies, more-than-human geography
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 20

Abstract

For centuries one of Europe’s most widely consumed fish, stocks of the European eel since the mid- to late-20th century have declined by at least 95%. Ecologists account for this via a range of anthropogenic factors: habitat loss, overfishing, waterway contamination, among others. However, the European eel’s former historical abundance—incredibly, perhaps fully half of the freshwater fish biomass in Europe before its decline—has allowed for an enduring and very profitable illicit trade of eel to east Asian markets as the world's largest wildlife crime.
The historical roots of this contemporary intercontinental trade, however, are in the longstanding eel trade within Europe, especially the historical trade between London and the Netherlands. This paper proceeds in several sections that follow eels from their capture in Dutch and Danish waters by eel merchants; through their subsequent transportation aboard eel boats; their exchange in London markets; and lastly their entry into the households and bodies of Londoners from the early 18th century to the early 20th century. I use the historical eel trade to conceptually advance scholarly discussions on cheap natures and lively commodities by considering jointly the cheapness and liveliness of natures, commodities, and their relevance for metabolic geographies. The paper frames both the lively commodity of the eel and the eel made cheap as fundamental conditions for the metabolism of the eel through urban institutions and extended trade networks; translated into various value forms across different urban, rural, and political contexts; and, ultimately, pushed toward extinction.