Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration: A Conceptual Framework for Community-Engaged Resource Management

Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration: A Conceptual Framework for Community-Engaged Resource Management

Community Engagement in Ecosystem Restoration

"My senior thesis explores community engagement with ecosystem restoration through the lens of oyster reef restoration. Drawing on connections from my personal and professional experiences, I used the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group and Billion Oyster Project as case studies—both organizations that restore wild oyster reefs and conduct impactful community engagement. In addition to my literature review, my research centered on the qualitative data I collected in interviews with leaders and employees at each organization. Comparing the strategies of these two organizations and existing case studies, I identified key differences and similarities in successes and failures in various approaches to community engagement. Over the course of my research, I came to understand the complex web of relationships entangled by resource management. Conversely, I found that the prevailing construction of humans as distinct from the environment has been used to legitimize conceptions of science and scientific endeavors isolated from human subjectivities. Both the Shellfish Group and Billion Oyster Project demonstrate different ways of being in relation to human and nonhuman communities alike, informing my frameworks, which aim to encourage more equitable and meaningful collaboration between scientists, communities, government, and all other implicated groups. Today, I am going to share with you some lessons learned from these organizations and different approaches to answering
my research question: How can aquatic ecosystems serve as positive models for fresh discourses on sociality, informing changes to our inter-community and inter-species relationships and approaches to ecosystem restoration?"

Yustein, Talia

04/2026

Research Paper

en

Ronsheim, Margaret

Sagan, Claire

Environmental Studies Department

completed

07/2026