The Norfolk Island Proposal

Alexander Gutierrez

This paper proposes a novel ecological intervention: Ethical Marine Offal Dumping (EMOD) as a low-cost, high-impact method of restoring apex predator presence in marine ecosystems. Using Norfolk Island as a case study, where tiger sharks are significantly larger and more abundant than regional norms, the paper explores the unintended yet beneficial ecological consequences of routine livestock offal dumping. Drawing on ecological literature, trophic cascade theory, and biomaterialist ontology, the paper theorizes a tripart anthropogenic model whereby human-generated nutrient loads sustain mesofauna, attract seabirds, and ultimately feed tiger sharks. Formal modeling supports the claim that tiger shark presence is a second-order function of human waste dumping via indirect trophic relay. Rewilding apex marine megafauna through captivity remains cost-prohibitive and ecologically risky, particularly for sharks, whose transport and training are fraught with difficulty. In contrast, EMOD enables natural apex regeneration at virtually no cost. The paper concludes with a philosophical reframing of waste: not as pollution, but as potential—biomass repayment for ecological debt in the post-Anthropocenic age.