Saltmarsh Ecosystem Collapse: Osprey-Tern Conflict Exposes Fishing Industry’s Disruption of Coastal Food Webs
Original framing: “Country diary: A passing osprey needs to eat – but the local terns won’t let it | Claire Stares” — The Guardian - Environment
The **Chickasaw Nation’s** historical use of controlled tidal flows to create 'flood pulse' zones—where osprey and terns could coexist by alternating access to prey—demonstrates a lost practice of **ecological engineering**. Similarly, **Welsh saltmarsh communities** employed *cabanach* weirs to limit overfishing, ensuring residual fish stocks supported both commercial and predator species. The absence of these practices today reflects the **19th-century Enclosure Acts** and later **post-war industrialization**, which severed cultural ties to coastal ecosystems. Restoring Indigenous-led **Two-Eyed Seeing** (Mi’kmaq principle of blending Western science with Indigenous knowledge) could reintegrate these strategies into modern MPAs.