Of dogs, fish birds & turds

Deanna Grant-Smith, Griffith University

The social construction of sewage pollution by recreational boaters

Animals, People: a shared environment AASG Conference 2011 Brisbane

Overview

Recreational boaters constructions of animals in relation to vessel-sourced sewage pollution to challenge attempts to regulate their sewage

discharge practices

Anthropogenic marine pollution

(Brunton 1996; Corbijn 2005; Williams 1996)

vessels 10%

ocean dumping

10%

other 10%

point-sourced and diffuse land-based

sources 70%

Vessel-sourced pollution Operational and deliberate discharges from vessels of:

oil garbage chemicals sewage

Ship-sourced pollution & animals

• Previous research has tended to focus on the construction of animals in relation to oil pollution from big shipping

• Animals are portrayed as the innocent victim of marine pollution and constructed as pathetic victims

• Oil-soaked birds and marine mammals are the most usually the emotional symbols of these disaster narratives

As a symbol of freedom now stained and grounded by oil, the bird reminds all of us what humans can do to the environment.

(Daley & O’Neill 1991:47)

The image of a dying seal means more than a seal dying. It represents not only the pollution of the ocean but an

environment in crisis. (Anderson 1997:9)

An example: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Case study

• Regulating vessel-sourced sewage, Queensland

• Strong dissent from recreational boaters who believed sewage discharges were not a problem that required regulation

• Political, community and environmental support

1994-1997

1997-2001

2004-2009

2001-2004

Passage of the Marine Pollution Bill and promotion of TOMPA

Reviewing TOMPA’s sewage provisions

Remaking and promoting TOMPA’s sewage provisions

Enforcing TOMPA’s sewage provisions

Critical realist orientation – environmental problems possess both intransitive and

transitive aspects

Interpretive policy analysis – identify and interrogate different meanings/discourses

and their implications – sees discourse as fundamental to understanding policy

making as the construction of ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’

Critical discourse analysis – textual : linguistic features – contextual : discursive practice and processes of text

production, distribution and consumption – sociocultural : broader societal issues and how power

relations are enacted

Research focus & approach

Primary data sources

texts for analysis and case study construction

government texts

Hansard, consultation &

policy documents

solicited submissions

public submissions

unsolicited comment

media reports, club newsletters,

ministerials

polluter

place

pollution

Understanding vessel-sourced sewage as pollution

recreational boaters

Constructing the polluter

commercial boaters

environmental interests

state government

mariculture interests

community

“There is no evidence to show that the direct discharge of marine toilets from

small craft into the waterways in Queensland is causing any

environmental or health problems.” Public Submission, Brisbane 1989

‘big’ boat sewage discharges

coastal farmers

local councils

Co

un

cil s

ew

age

tr

eat

me

nt

pla

nts

dogs

marine animals & seabirds

cows

Recreational boater constructions of animals as a claims making strategy to avoid having to manage recreational vessel sewage discharges

Animals as problems

Animals as the cause of sewage pollution

Animals as the policy problem

Animals as solutions

Animals as the preventer of sewage pollution

Animal acts as natural and to be copied

Construction of animals in vessel-sourced sewage debates

Constructing animals acts as natural

• Claims making strategy to avoid changing discharge practices because they do not constitute a problem

• Constructs current practices as appropriate and not harmful because animal acts (excretion) are natural and neither damaging nor controllable

Human faeces is really no different to pelican, dugong, dolphin and fish faeces, which is needed in the marine environment.

Public Submission, Gold Coast. 1998

It is not an environmental issue as birds and sea mammals do it too. Public Submission, Brisbane. 1998

Constructing animals as the cause of pollution

• Claims making strategy to shift blame from recreational boaters to animals for visible sewage pollution and elevated coliform levels

• If there is a problem various animals [not boaters] are constructed as the cause

This is an interesting one because [the forum] not only referred to human effluent discharge but animal faeces which run into the river and the harbour from the nearby banks, footpaths and boat ramps.

Bruce Laming MP, Hansard 16/03/00:572

Marine animals as a cause of pollution

Marine creatures are constantly excreting, dying and decaying in the oceans. There is nothing more putrid than decaying marine

life, yet the ocean remains unpolluted from this source. Bruce Laming MP, Hansard 21/02/95:10973

Seabirds as a cause of sewage pollution

Seabirds and marine mammals produce very similar waste to humans and all contain coliform bacteria. In most Australian

waterways the volume of waste from marine toilets is far outweighed by that from seabirds and marine mammals.

Queensland Small Craft Council, 27/11/97, p.2

Fish as a cause of sewage pollution

We had a tropical fish tank. The amount of excreta that they produced was formidable...a simple extrapolation of this to the

millions of fish around the reef leads me to assume that their excreta far, far outweighs any human variety!!!!

Public Submission, Pullenvale 1998

Even the smallest fish has to have a poo sometimes, and there are lots more of them, so what are we to do about it?

Noel Stanaway. Fish ‘n Boat. January 1999

Dogs as a cause of sewage pollution

A number of other pollution sources are not so generally recognised. These include...dog faeces...That pollution is seen by

river and harbour users and beach users and immediately vessels get blamed for it.

Bruce Laming, TLAB Debate, Hansard 16/03/00, p.572

Cows as a cause of sewage pollution

Maybe we need cow dunnies with pump-out facilities too?

Noel Stanaway, Boating Queensland. January 1999. p23.

Constructing animals as preventing pollution

• Claims making strategy to avoid changing discharge practices because if there is a problem animals will fix it

• Portrays sewage disposal as natural and necessary because animals consume the sewage discharged from boats

• Connected to claims that ‘boaters know best’

Fish as a preventer of sewage pollution

Textbook academics and environmentalists have to justify their existence by making wild statements without factual evidence to

back them up and I doubt very much if they would know what happens to the small amount of sewage after it is discharged.

This is not a very nice subject but happens to be the truth and a fact of life. The solids in sewage are cleaned up and retreated in very short order by scavenger fish and any experienced ‘boatie’

has seen this many times. Public Submission, Buddina. 1989.

Constructing animals as the policy problem

Many Queensland Transport marine section officers are boaties themselves and know the problems involved. But when officers

from that other department which believes fish, plants, birds and animals are more important that human beings become involved in

decision-making, then practical commonsense usually floats out with the tide.

John Keenan, The Courier Mail 2/11/97, p.155

• Claims making strategy to avoid changing discharge practices because pollution claims are based on emotion and not evidence

• Connected to claims that ‘boaters know best’

Conclusions

• Together these constructions provided the rhetorical scaffolding for boaters’ claims that vessel-sourced sewage discharges were natural, harmless and did not need to be regulated

• If there was a pollution problem, which recreational boaters disputed, animals were the perfect scapegoat because they could not defend themselves against these claims

• Animals also provide a focus to deride and undermine attempts to regulate boaters sewage discharges which highlighted their perceived absurdity

References Anderson A (1997) Media, culture and the environment. London, UCL.

Birkland TA & Lawrence RG (2002) The social and political meaning of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Spill Science and Technology Bulletin, 7(1-2), pp. 17-22.

Brunton N (1996) Holidays by the sewer: coastal water pollution and ecological sustainability. Australian Environmental Law News, 2, pp. 37-47.

Corbijn N (2005) Making ship-generated wastewater green. BMT Focus, 4, p.5.

Daley P & O’Neill D (1991) ‘Sad is too mild a word’: press coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Journal of Communication, 41(4), pp. 42-57.

Keenan J (1997)Don’t give me waste. Sunday Mail, 2 November 1997, p. 155.

Laming B (1995) Transport Operations (Marine Pollution) Bill: 2nd reading. Queensland Hansard, 47th Parliament sitting 21 February 1995, pp. 10964-10987.

Laming B (2000) Transport Legislation Amendment Bill: 2nd reading. Queensland Hansard, 49th Parliament sitting 16 March 2000, pp. 554-585.

Maritime Safety Queensland (2003) Vessel-sourced Sewage Regulatory Impact Statement. Queensland Government, Brisbane.

Maritime Safety Queensland (2008) Changes to legislation on marine pollution. Seascape, 5(4), p. 4.

Public Submissions made to government in response to legislative reviews of the Transport Operations (Marine Pollution) Act 1995 and associated regulation, 1998-2011.

Queensland Small Craft Council (1997) Update on the issue of sewage disposal from small craft: some facts you need to know to understand the debate. November 1997.

Queensland Transport (1998) Review of the Sewage Provisions of the Transport Operations (Marine Pollution) Act 1995: Position paper for public comment. Queensland Government, Brisbane.

Queensland Transport (2000) Review of the Marine Sewage Provisions of the Transport Operations Marine Pollution) Act 1995: Position paper for community consultation. Queensland Government, Brisbane.

Stanaway N (1999) Dunny business. Boating Queensland, January 1999, p. 23.

Stanaway N (1999) Dramas of sea goin’ dunny aren’t over yet. Fish ‘n Boat, January 1999.

Williams C (1996) Combating marine pollution from land-based activities: Australian initiatives. Ocean and Coastal Management, 33(1-3), pp. 87-122.