Negotiating a future for recreational engagements with the sea: boaters and conservation initiatives on England's south coast

In his 2019 article on liveaboard boaters on inland waterways in England, Benjamin Bowles explores the idea that dwelling on water has a particular set of effects. These effects, including material consequences of a liveaboard lifestyle, change the way people relate to the environment, nature, and time (see Bowles 2016; 2019). Elsewhere Bowles extends this analysis to look at how dwelling on water influences how individuals relate to local authorities, ideas of freedom and governance, and the sedentary communities with which boaters are often opposed (see Bowles 2017; 2021). By exploring how watery environments are seen by boaters as one of the last free spaces in a "post-enclosure world" (Bowles 2016:109), Bowles' work resonates with a wider literature on how individuals face increasing restrictions on their rights and access to the seas (see Walley 2002; Davis 2014; Kamat 2014; Weir and Kerr 2019; Seto and Campbell 2019). This "blue grabbing" of marine resources and coastal space can occur in multiple ways, including by the state through marine conservation and with environmental concerns as a core driver (see Benjaminsen and Bryceson 2012; Hill 2017).
This research project responds to the above ideas in the context of England's south coast, where a large multi-partner initiative to restore seabed habitats is aiming to influence the knowledge, values and behaviour of recreational boaters . This EU-funded project, LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES, has generated concerns for some boaters over the risk of decreasing access to marine spaces, for example through the erection of No-Anchor Zones.