Existential Struggles and the Perennial Poverty among Small-Scale Deep-Sea Fishermen: An Ethnographic Study

Predictability of the dispersion of sediment plumes induced by potential deep-sea mining activities is still very limited due to operational limitations on in-situ observations required for a thorough validation and calibration of numerical models. Here we report on a plume dispersion experiment carried out in the German license area for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in the northeastern tropical Pacific Ocean in 4,200 m water depth. The dispersion of a sediment plume induced by a small-scale dredge experiment in April 2019 was investigated numerically by employing a sediment transport module coupled to a high-resolution hydrodynamic regional ocean model. Various aspects including sediment characteristics and ocean hydrodynamics were examined to obtain the best statistical agreement between sensor-based observations and model results. Results show that the model is capable of reproducing suspended sediment concentration and redeposition patterns observed during the dredge experiment. Due to a strong southward current during the dredging, the model predicts no sediment deposition and plume dispersion north of the dredging tracks. The sediment redeposition thickness reaches up to 9 mm directly next to the dredging tracks and 0.07 mm in about 320 m away from the dredging center. The model results suggest that seabed topography and variable sediment release heights above the seafloor cause significant changes especially for the low sedimentation pattern in the far-field area. Near-bottom mixing is expected to strongly influence vertical transport of suspended sediment.

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Impact of simulated deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining on sediment and pore-water geochemistry in prospective mining areas in the NE Pacific Ocean

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3729 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica Volz ◽

Laura Haffert ◽

Matthias Haeckel ◽

Andrea Koschinsky ◽

Sabine Kasten

Keyword(s):

Steady State ◽

Pacific Ocean ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Surface Sediments ◽

Small Scale ◽

Mining Activities ◽

Mining Equipment ◽

Geochemical Conditions ◽

Polymetallic Nodules ◽

Ne Pacific

Industrial-scale harvesting of deep-sea mineral resources, such as polymetallic nodules, is likely to have severe consequences for the natural environment. However, the effects of mining activities on deep&#8209;sea ecosystems, sediment geochemistry and element fluxes are still poorly understood. Predicting the environmental impact is challenging due to the scarcity of environmental baseline studies and the lack of mining trials with industrial mining equipment in the deep sea. Thus, currently we have to rely on small-scale disturbances simulating deep-sea mining activities as a first-order approximation to study the expected impacts on the abyssal environment and ecosystem.We have investigated surface sediments in disturbance tracks of seven small-scale benthic impact experiments, which have been performed in four European contract areas for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the NE Pacific Ocean. These small-scale disturbance experiments were performed 1 day to 37 years prior to our sampling program in the German, Polish, Belgian and French contract areas using different disturbance devices, such as dredges and epibenthic sledges. We show that the depth distribution of solid-phase Mn in the upper 20 cm of the sediments in the CCZ provides a reliable tool for the determination of the disturbance depth. We found that the upper 5&#8211;15 cm of the sediments were removed during various small&#8209;scale disturbance experiments in the different contract areas. Transient transport&#8209;reaction modelling for the Polish and German contract areas reveals that the removal of the surface sediments is associated with the loss of reactive labile organic carbon. As a result, oxygen consumption rates decrease significantly after the removal of the surface sediments, and consequently, oxygen penetrates up to tenfold deeper into the sediments inhibiting denitrification and Mn(IV) reduction. Our model results show that the return to steady state geochemical conditions after the disturbance is controlled by diffusion until the reactive labile TOC fraction in the surface sediments is partly re&#8209;established and the biogeochemical processes commence. While the re-establishment of bioturbation is essential, steady state geochemical conditions are ultimately controlled by the burial rate of organic matter. Hence, under current depositional conditions, new steady state geochemical conditions in the sediments of the CCZ are reached only on a millennium-scale even for these small-scale disturbances simulating deep-sea mining activities.

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Further Notes on Record Taking and Making in Maternity Care: The Case of South Asian Descent Women

The Sociological Review ◽

10.1111/j.1467-954x.1995.tb02477.x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 43 (1) ◽

pp. 36-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Isobel Bowler

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

South Asian ◽

Maternity Care ◽

Antenatal Clinic ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Small Scale ◽

Negative Stereotypes ◽

Service Staff ◽

Asian Descent

This paper draws on data from a small-scale ethnographic study of the delivery of maternity care to South Asian descent women in a hospital in Southern England during 1988. Stereotyped views of these women which related to their customs and culture as well as their typification as patients were commonly expressed by staff, particularly midwives. The paper examines the role of medical records and record making in stereotyping Asian women: the ways in which stereotyped views of women may affect the record making process; and how that process itself may reinforce and create stereotypes. The utility of records for ‘rate production’ purposes is also discussed. The focus of the paper is the creation of a woman's maternity records which occurs in the antenatal clinic. The transformation of stigmatised views of a client into ‘facts’ about a client is common among bureaucrats, in this setting health service staff. This process affects the client's future encounters with the bureaucracy. In medical settings records (ie the case notes) help to create, transmit and reify negative stereotypes of health service users. These stereotypes can affect the kind of care given to individual patients.

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Response of deep-sea macrobenthos to a small-scale environmental disturbance

Deep Sea Research Part II Topical Studies in Oceanography ◽

10.1016/s0967-0645(01)00048-0 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 48 (16) ◽

pp. 3401-3410 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

B.S Ingole ◽

Z.A Ansari ◽

V Rathod ◽

N Rodrigues

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Small Scale ◽

Environmental Disturbance

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The importance of different spatial scales in determining structural and functional characteristics of deep-sea infauna communities

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-10-4547-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 4547-4563 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

J. Ingels ◽

A. Vanreusel

Keyword(s):

Functional Diversity ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Spatial Ecology ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Standing Stock ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽

Small Scale ◽

Functional Characteristics ◽

Sampling Locations

Abstract. The urge to understand spatial distributions of species and communities and their causative processes has continuously instigated the development and testing of conceptual models in spatial ecology. For the deep sea, there is evidence that structural and functional characteristics of benthic communities are regulated by a multitude of biotic and environmental processes that act in concert on different spatial scales, but the spatial patterns are poorly understood compared to those for terrestrial ecosystems. Deep-sea studies generally focus on very limited scale ranges, thereby impairing our understanding of which spatial scales and associated processes are most important in driving structural and functional diversity of communities. Here, we used an extensive integrated dataset of free-living nematodes from deep-sea sediments to unravel the importance of different spatial scales in determining benthic infauna communities. Multiple-factor multivariate permutational analyses were performed on different sets of community descriptors (structure, structural and functional diversity, standing stock). The different spatial scales investigated cover two margins in the northeast Atlantic, several submarine canyons/channel/slope areas, a bathymetrical range of 700–4300 m, different sampling locations at each station, and vertical sediment profiles. The results indicated that the most important spatial scale for structural and functional diversity and standing stock variability is the smallest one; infauna communities changed substantially more with differences between sediment depth layers than with differences associated to larger geographical or bathymetrical scales. Community structure differences were greatest between stations at both margins. Important regulating ecosystem processes and the scale on which they occur are discussed. The results imply that, if we are to improve our understanding of ecosystem patterns of deep-sea infauna and the relevant processes driving their structure, structural and functional diversity, and standing stock, we must pay particular attention to the small-scale heterogeneity or patchiness and the causative mechanisms acting on that scale.

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Mutual (Mis)understanding: Reframing Autistic Pragmatic “Impairments” Using Relevance Theory

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616664 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Gemma L. Williams ◽

Tim Wharton ◽

Caroline Jagoe

Keyword(s):

Relevance Theory ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Small Scale ◽

Mutual Understanding ◽

Intended Meaning ◽

Autistic People ◽

Communication Difficulties ◽

Embodied Experiences ◽

Utterance Interpretation ◽

Conversation Partner

A central diagnostic and anecdotal feature of autism is difficulty with social communication. We take the position that communication is a two-way, intersubjective phenomenon—as described by the double empathy problem—and offer up relevance theory (a cognitive account of utterance interpretation) as a means of explaining such communication difficulties. Based on a set of proposed heuristics for successful and rapid interpretation of intended meaning, relevance theory positions communication as contingent on shared—and, importantly, mutually recognized—“relevance.” Given that autistic and non-autistic people may have sometimes markedly different embodied experiences of the world, we argue that what is most salient to each interlocutor may be mismatched. Relevance theory would predict that where this salient information is not (mutually) recognized or adjusted for, mutual understanding may be more effortful to achieve. This paper presents the findings from a small-scale, linguistic ethnographic study of autistic communication featuring eight core autistic participants. Each core autistic participant engaged in three naturalistic conversations around the topic of loneliness with: (1) a familiar, chosen conversation partner; (2) a non-autistic stranger and (3) an autistic stranger. Relevance theory is utilized as a frame for the linguistic analysis of the interactions. Mutual understanding was unexpectedly high across all types of conversation pairings. In conversations involving two autistic participants, flow, rapport and intersubjective attunement were significantly increased and in three instances, autistic interlocutors appeared to experience improvements in their individual communicative competence contrasted with their other conversations. The findings have the potential to guide future thinking about how, in practical terms, communication between autistic and non-autistic people in both personal and public settings might be improved.

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THE RITUAL OF KHANDURI LAÔT IN LOWLAND ACEH: An Ethnographic Study in South, South West and West Aceh

MIQOT Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Keislaman ◽

10.30821/miqot.v40i2.300 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Abdul Manan

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Sea Water ◽

Field Research ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Ritual Performance ◽

Ritual Action ◽

South West ◽

The Village ◽

The Waves ◽

Sea Coast

Abstract: This article aims to describe and analyze critically about the ritual of khanduri laôt in lowland Aceh. This annual ritual has been performed from one generation to another for it cannot be separated from the life of fishermen and it leaves a deep impression among the participants. This research is a field research and its data is obtained through meticulous observation of the ritual action and in-deep interview, discussion with the main protagonists of the ritual performance. The result of the research shows that the village fishermen made the offering (cosmological exchange) besides reciting the verses from the Qur’an. The offering is made to “the possessor of the fish” and is also given to “the sea water spirit” who takes care of the fish pond, the coast sea, the sea’s surface, the waves, and the deep sea. The village fishermen considered that cosmological exchange is important to be done as the protection for the fishermen from harm at sea besides the fish will go near the sea coast and taste the khanduri so that the fishermen can easily catch them. Abstrak: Ritual Kenduri Laut di Daratan Aceh: Kajian Etnografi di Aceh Selatan, Barat dan Baratdaya. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan dan menganalisa secara kritis tentang ritus khanduri laôt di dataran rendah Aceh. Ritus tahunan ini telah dilaksanakan dari generasi ke generasi karena tidak dapat dipisahkan dari kehidupan nelayan dan meninggalkan impresi yang mendalam diantara pengikutnya. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian lapangan dan datanya diperoleh melalui pengamatan terhadap aktivitas dan upacara ritus, wawancara mendalam dan diskusi dengan informan kunci. Hasil penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa nelayan desa membuat sesajian (pertukaran cosmos) selain membaca ayat-ayat al-Qur’an. Sesajian juga dibuat untuk the possessor of the fish, dan juga kepada the sea water spirit yang menjaga kolam ikan, pantai laut, permukaan laut, gelombang dan laut dalam. Nelayan-nelayan desa menganggap bahwa pertukaran kosmos perlu dilakukan sebagai proteksi bagi mereka dari gangguan di laut dan ikan akan pergi mendekat ke tepian dan memakan sesajian, sehingga nelayan bisa menangkapnya dengan mudah. Keywords: ritual of the khanduri laôt, sea water spirit, cosmological exchange

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Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-11-3941-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (14) ◽

pp. 3941-3963 ◽

Cited By ~ 140

Author(s):

A. R. Thurber ◽

A. K. Sweetman ◽

B. E. Narayanaswamy ◽

D. O. B. Jones ◽

J. Ingels ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Deep Ocean ◽

Life Forms ◽

Small Scale ◽

Nutrient Regeneration ◽

Microbial Oxidation ◽

Global Functioning ◽

Oxidation Of Methane ◽

Deep Ocean Water ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The deep sea is often viewed as a vast, dark, remote, and inhospitable environment, yet the deep ocean and seafloor are crucial to our lives through the services that they provide. Our understanding of how the deep sea functions remains limited, but when treated synoptically, a diversity of supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services becomes apparent. The biological pump transports carbon from the atmosphere into deep-ocean water masses that are separated over prolonged periods, reducing the impact of anthropogenic carbon release. Microbial oxidation of methane keeps another potent greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere while trapping carbon in authigenic carbonates. Nutrient regeneration by all faunal size classes provides the elements necessary for fueling surface productivity and fisheries, and microbial processes detoxify a diversity of compounds. Each of these processes occur on a very small scale, yet considering the vast area over which they occur they become important for the global functioning of the ocean. The deep sea also provides a wealth of resources, including fish stocks, enormous bioprospecting potential, and elements and energy reserves that are currently being extracted and will be increasingly important in the near future. Society benefits from the intrigue and mystery, the strange life forms, and the great unknown that has acted as a muse for inspiration and imagination since near the beginning of civilization. While many functions occur on the scale of microns to meters and timescales up to years, the derived services that result are only useful after centuries of integrated activity. This vast dark habitat, which covers the majority of the globe, harbors processes that directly impact humans in a variety of ways; however, the same traits that differentiate it from terrestrial or shallow marine systems also result in a greater need for integrated spatial and temporal understanding as it experiences increased use by society. In this manuscript we aim to provide a foundation for informed conservation and management of the deep sea by summarizing the important role of the deep sea in society.

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Debt/credit, money and social relationships in the underground credit markets of Soweto, South Africa

Social Science Information ◽

10.1177/0539018419851767 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 58 (3) ◽

pp. 403-429

Author(s):

Detlev Krige

Keyword(s):

Social Relationships ◽

Financial Institutions ◽

Trade Unions ◽

Credit Markets ◽

Primary Source ◽

Vantage Point ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Small Scale ◽

Wage Work ◽

Social Fields

This article engages with contemporary debates about debt and money from the vantage point of an ethnographic study of unregulated, small-scale moneylending business who continues to operate in the township of Soweto’s poorer neighbourhoods. Following Peebles’ argument that reading poor people’s unwillingness to bank with formal institutions as a sign of ignorance is unwarranted, this article describes persistent dynamics of underground credit markets and personalized credit relationships, demonstrating how the practice of ukumashonisa (extending cash money as credit) by neighbourhood lenders are embedded in social fields shared by lenders and borrowers. This article further demonstrates how the vilification of the figure of the township moneylender ( mashonisa) by a broad coalition of civil society groups, trade unions, the state and commercial financial institutions, assisted in the financialization of poor people’s monies. This public consensus about the depravity of the neighbourhood moneylender is not shared by all Sowetans, especially poor and unemployed Sowetans who have been pushed into a greater dependency on both money and intense personalized social relationships as they try to survive. Seeking out personalized credit relationships, and turning debt transactions, contracts and relationships with local moneylenders into exchanges that take on the appearance of gifts rather than commodity exchanges, continues to remain a strategy for people who are no longer able to count on stable wage work as their primary source of income.

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Impact of small-scale disturbances on geochemical conditions, biogeochemical processes and element fluxes in surface sediments of the eastern Clarion–Clipperton Zone, Pacific Ocean

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-17-1113-2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 1113-1131 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jessica B. Volz ◽

Laura Haffert ◽

Matthias Haeckel ◽

Andrea Koschinsky ◽

Sabine Kasten

Keyword(s):

Steady State ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Surface Sediments ◽

Small Scale ◽

Mining Activities ◽

Biogeochemical Processes ◽

Geochemical Conditions ◽

Element Fluxes ◽

Polymetallic Nodules

Abstract. The thriving interest in harvesting deep-sea mineral resources, such as polymetallic nodules, calls for environmental impact studies and, ultimately, for regulations for environmental protection. Industrial-scale deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules most likely has severe consequences for the natural environment. However, the effects of mining activities on deep-sea ecosystems, sediment geochemistry and element fluxes are still poorly understood. Predicting the environmental impact is challenging due to the scarcity of environmental baseline studies as well as the lack of mining trials with industrial mining equipment in the deep sea. Thus, currently we have to rely on small-scale disturbances simulating deep-sea mining activities as a first-order approximation to study the expected impacts on the abyssal environment. Here, we investigate surface sediments in disturbance tracks of seven small-scale benthic impact experiments, which have been performed in four European contract areas for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the NE Pacific. These small-scale disturbance experiments were performed 1 d to 37 years prior to our sampling program in the German, Polish, Belgian and French contract areas using different disturbance devices. We show that the depth distribution of solid-phase Mn in the upper 20 cm of the sediments in the CCZ provides a reliable tool for the determination of the disturbance depth, which has been proposed in a previous study from the SE Pacific (Paul et al., 2018). We found that the upper 5–15 cm of the sediments was removed during various small-scale disturbance experiments in the different exploration contract areas. Transient transport-reaction modeling for the Polish and German contract areas reveals that the removal of the surface sediments is associated with the loss of the reactive labile total organic carbon (TOC) fraction. As a result, oxygen consumption rates decrease significantly after the removal of the surface sediments, and, consequently, oxygen penetrates up to 10-fold deeper into the sediments, inhibiting denitrification and Mn(IV) reduction. Our model results show that the return to steady-state geochemical conditions after the disturbance is controlled by diffusion until the reactive labile TOC fraction in the surface sediments is partly re-established and the biogeochemical processes commence. While the re-establishment of bioturbation is essential, steady-state geochemical conditions are ultimately controlled by the delivery rate of organic matter to the seafloor. Hence, under current depositional conditions, new steady-state geochemical conditions in the sediments of the CCZ are reached only on a millennium scale even for these small-scale disturbances simulating deep-sea mining activities.

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