Smartest Coast in the World?: Digital Sound and Enclosure

Chapter 5 looks at Smart Oceans, a multipurpose ocean governance project seeking to synthesize diverse coastal interests into an inclusive network of environmental preparedness. Since 2014, its acting institution, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), has established a range of regional community observatories in key development areas of the North Coast, including Hartley Bay, Dodge Cove, and Prince Rupert. The digital sound objects collected by Smart Oceans valorize sound in terms of informational functionality and not listening. Drawing on theories of enclosure from Alvaro Sevilla-Buitrago and Mark Andrejevic, it considers how sonic practices sanctioned by a Smart Ocean relate the emergence of new socialities and the normalization of digital-cum-maritime enclosure. On the North Coast, Smart Oceans is erecting the constituency deemed necessary for Canada’s sustainable marine development. As it proceeds, it facilitates the loss of once-integrated spaces of sociality and the sensory knowledges they cultivate.