New book release – Ocean Governance (Beyond) Borders

Your book is titled Ocean Governance (Beyond) Borders. What was the main motivation behind this project, and what do you aim to achieve with the volume?

Between us, as editors, we have been working with the concept of bordering in different ways: Jennifer with the border between prison and society and the making of ‘carceral’ space and Kimberley with the borders that define different ocean zones, creating ‘insides’ and ‘outsides’ where different maritime activities may be allowed or not. We decided, in 2021 (so quite a while ago!), to bring these ideas together and explore how the sea and its governance may be ‘locked in’ to the use of bordering. Indeed, the oceans are often imagined as vast, ungovernable spaces yet, in practice, they are increasingly subject to bordering regimes – be it through marine protected areas, exclusive economic zones, migration and security infrastructures, or techno-legal instruments. With this book, we aim to examine these bordering processes not merely descriptively, but critically we ask how borders in the ocean are enacted, what they do, and how they shape human and more-than-human life.

What is the underlying problem that makes this critical perspective on ocean borders so urgent?

We have been really intrigued by a profound dissonance between the ocean – an entity that is inherently liquid, fluid and resistant to bordering – and the dominant modes of governing it, which rely heavily on spatial demarcation and control, or, other words, borders. Why are we using borders in an ocean that clearly defies bordering? And, when we do, what results? What are the possibilities (for conservation, for example) and what are the violences (for people, for example). We observe that sea bordering relies a lot on approaches that have been taken for granted in governing land, but they don’t translate so neatly to the ocean, demanding us to pay more attention to what happens when we try to draw lines in ocean spaces. That is the problem the book addresses. It doesn’t hold all the answers but encourages more work on the topic.

And what would you describe as the specific contribution your book makes to these debates?

The book makes contributions that are theoretical, empirical and also practical. For example, conceptually it takes the idea of the ‘border’ to sea and allows us to examine how – in this space that is so resistant to bordering – bordering is nonetheless so engrained in management. We see how borders operate invisibly but are still there, shaping governance. The book considers the concept of borders empirically through really unique case studies – from marine invasive species, attempts to control shark attacks, and to the control of climate change. Chapters consider the impacts of ocean borders on seafarers, as well as migrants and fishers. Practically – in reflecting on theoretical questions of bordering at sea, and through these case studies – it asks whether there can (and should) be alternatives to borders. Can we govern – as the title asks – beyond borders? What might that look like?

So, in essence, the book is a call to rethink both borders and the ocean itself?

Yes. We aim to provoke deeper thinking on both borders and the ocean and, ultimately, management of the ocean. The ocean is a heavily organised space (despite what we hear about its ‘outlaw’ nature). That organisation is not apolitical. It serves some (and not others). It protects some(things) and not others. It creates exclusions. So thinking about borders, oceans and governance together is essential, not least as use of the ocean intensifies. It is all the more critical as bordering raises questions of fairness, justice and equality in how the oceans are used. In the book, then, we and our authors unsettle how we govern oceans – the more-than-human life and resources within them and the people who use them, cross them, live with(in) them – to both reflect on the impacts of borders and to imagine different possible futures.