From commons to commoning as resistance efforts to blue injustice: A sociohistorical and ethnographical approach

Abstract Over the last 20 years, collaborative efforts have emerged with the intention of going beyond the pure capitalist economy, seeking to generate transformative community‐based changes that guarantee blue equity, fair distribution and well‐being. In the interests of sustainability and in defence of their livelihoods and culture, these marine stewards lead community initiatives that promote a sharing approach to the defence of the oceans against the deprivation of basic needs and the commons against the growth of the ocean economy. Based on historical analysis and exhaustive ethnography, this study explores the processes of the commons, decommonization and commoning throughout history to understand the continuities and discontinuities over time and uncover the drivers that can fuel transformative change. The coast of Catalonia, in the north‐western Mediterranean and the Cap de Creus Marine Protected Area, in north‐eastern Catalonia, serve as this case study for this research. The results show that the commons are a kind of ‘timeless conception’, since they represent an ecological, social and cultural value of goods essential for life that exists in recognition of the action of the social ties of the community in the defence of a common interest, regardless of the tenure system, the institution or the collective management system. This socio‐moral environmental principle, along with the actions of a community of marine stewards defending it against socio‐ecological challenges, sustains the pre‐existence of the commons over time. The study highlights its potential and the need for the complicity of States, business and society to produce transformative changes. This means repositioning a moral and ecological economy at the centre of the economic system, institutionalized by a political regime through legal frameworks based on distributive justice and equity, thus guaranteeing the fundamental rights to subsistence and the prevention of exclusion. The study contends about the necessity to consider historical processes to illuminate aspects that could underpin the transformation of social–ecological relations. A retrospective analysis of past management experiences is necessary to evaluate their relevance and applicability in contemporary contexts, despite considerable shifts in social, political and ecological conditions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.