Astonishing peek into the world of those attempting to control the world's oceans. You will never look at that fish dinner the same way again!
( )

another reminder of the true costs of comfort.

it did feel that the author was feeling his role in the "story" at times a bit much, tho. ( )

Though now just a bit dated, this book was a real eye-opener when it comes to life at sea. At times depressing and distressing, it also takes pains to show the good that is happening.

I'll not look at the sea in the same way ever again. ( )

I was drawn to read this because I've always been fascinated by books about adventures at sea, most of which reflect a time far distant from the present in technology and worldview if not in actual years. Urbina's book promised to provide an updated version of life on the high seas, an opportunity to get behind the headlines of familiar topics like whaling and piracy and to learn about others even less pleasant, particularly slavery. It's all too easy to look away from these realities and I wanted the challenge of facing into them.

And The Outlaw Ocean delivers. As Urbina presents a wealth of information about the ways in which the oceans are used and abused in the 21st century it becomes clear that there is no effective "law" in the common areas of the ocean, those places no nation has the right, and perhaps more importantly the responsibility, to police. Sadly enough, even when it might be possible to take action against some truly evil activities, greed and corruption stand in the way.

While reading about fish populations being decimated and coral reefs despoiled is hard enough, the most horrific chapter addressed slavery at sea. Think of those impressed sailors you've read of in history and in fiction, crossed with the "company towns" tied to industries like mining, where it is impossible to leave because you always owe more than you earn. Impoverished men from countries with little economic opportunity are lured into spending years at sea, out of touch with family, hidden from view when other ships are near, sometimes shackled, frequently beaten, and periodically sold to other ships. Reading about this is tough sledding.

I think what made it possible for me to finish the book (it was certainly not the prospect of a happy ending) was the author's journalistic writing style. Very little in the book is hearsay. Urbina spent months at sea, year after year, often under extremely unpleasant and dangerous conditions, collecting the information and stories he shares. He struggles with inner conflicts between his job of bearing witness as a journalist and his innate human desire to try to help those suffering the worst abuses. It all comes together to engage me as a reader, but with enough distance that I didn't want to run away.

It's not a book for everyone, but I'm glad I read it. Although I may not eat tuna for a while... ( )

The author of "The Outlaw Ocean", Ian Urbina, spent four or five years travelling around the world as a NY Times investigative reporter, investigating human rights violations, human trafficking, illegal fishing, and any number of lawless activities which occur with regularity on the high seas. His accounts are first-hand, having gained access to ships of all sizes and types to document his stories.

Urbina takes us to places few of us will ever experience. We all understand that except for failed states, nations have laws which specify what type(s) of activities are considered illegal, at least when occurring within their National borders. But once offshore by more than 12 miles, determining what laws apply, if any, what activities are legal or illegal, who has jurisdiction, and who is willing to prosecute illegal activities is an uncertainty. And that's the side of the world which Urbina exposes the reader to in "The Outlaw Sea". Each chapter in his book uncovers yet another corrupt activity taking place on the oceans, activities which few of us have ever been made aware of.

Among the worst cases he's investigated and documents are the extreme harsh conditions on fishing boats. The UN estimates that fishing fleets worldwide are shorthanded by over 50,000 men, and too often, men are illegally "shanghaied" or tricked into years of servitude serving about these fleets. Terms such as kidnapping, slavery, indentured servitude, and piracy were archaic, to me, vestiges of the past, and of little relevance to modern times, or so I thought until reading this book. Previously, when I heard the term "human trafficking", I imagined it involved women being exploited for work in menial jobs or in the sex trade. But Urbina describes how men, especially from south Asian countries, are being tricked into working on boats by being promised good jobs, only to find that none of the promised financial rewards are given. Often, they're confined to the fishing boats for years, unable to escape, and rarely even seeing land.

Urbina uncovers how Philippine peasants have been conned into taking jobs on fishing boats, promised decent wages, then cheated into accepting much less pay (if paid at all), made to pay for their food, expenses, and travel. They also may be forced to work 18 hrs/day, 6 days a week, all while being abused by captain(s), beaten, forced into sexual acts, etc. When extremely shorthanded, on-shore agents may even drug and kidnap men, sell them to boat captains, where they're made to work at sea under the harshest of conditions. I found it hard to believe how many men have been tricked or forced into working on south Asian fishing boats, underpaid, mistreated, beaten, and cheated out of wages on many of these fishing fleets.

Another area Urbina documents is the widespread practice of illegal fishing and poaching. In most cases, the illegal fishing is deliberate, since there's little accountability for breaking the laws, and huge profits to be made. But Urbina also explain that in a few cases, because of border disputes between nations, the international boundaries at sea are in dispute and even harder to define, and can be uncertain in whose waters the boats are actually working.

Especially troubling are cases Urbina uncovers involving illegal dumping into the oceans. This is often dumping of trash and oily discharges by small vessels, but can equally occur on the largest cruise line corporations. Carnival Lines has had a long history of dumping plastic trash and oily discharge from its ships, with violations dating back to 1993. Urbina also points out that Princess Cruise Lines has paid $40 million over other deliberate acts of pollution. Other cases include ocean dumping of Nuclear waste, including Reactors still containing fuel, which had been done by the USSR, Great Britain, and U.S.

Other stories just give examples of how people can bend rules to their own benefit. Perhaps the strangest is his story of the Principality of Sealand. In this case, a family took over an abandoned offshore platform in the North Sea, originally built as an anti-aircraft gun platform during World War II, and declared it to now be an independent State called Sealand. The family adopted a constitution, issue passports, etc., and there is no clear international authority to force them out. He also has traveled with a group called Women on Waves, who visit various countries where abortion is illegal, and then offer to take pregnant women beyond the countries 12-mile limit to perform an abortion - something which would be illegal if done ashore.

He also has a chapter which discusses shipboard stowaways and how they're dealt with when discovered. Sometimes they're simply put overboard at sea, to fend for themselves and possibly die. Other times, if a stowaway is not thrown off the ship at sea, upon making it to the next port of call, he may be able to delay the ship in port while dealing with legalities. There's also a chapter which describes how ships can be stolen and illegally re-named, and another with how ships have been "liberated" by adventurers after unscrupulous port authorities have held ships in port for extortion. He also describes how commonly accepted practices and laws can be abused by re-registering ships in other nations, e.g., flying flags of convenience.

With so many abuses, and so little enforcement or oversight of these activities, prospects for improvements seem far in the future. Except for the author's investigative reporting, it seems as if no significant authority is too concerned with protecting workers, or ensuring that fish caught for our consumption are done ethically and sustainably. Urbina does leave one with some hope in closing, describing Organizations now working to fight these problems / injustices. The Environmental Justice Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Greenpeace, and International Labor Rights Forum publish investigative reports about labor abuses on fishing ships. Organizations such as Stellar Maris and Missions to Seafarers are among other organizations working to protect mariners

Urbina's book points out that there's clearly a need more marine protected areas, to scale back size of global fishing fleets, to tighten quotas on the number of fish that can be pulled from the water, and removing unfair Gov't subsidies which artificially make seafood too cheap. All these efforts need Government cooperation and commitment. The Global sea food industry is just beginning to take suitable measures to address concerns dealing with fish stocks. Because pirate fishing boats are responsible for over 20% of the wild caught seafood imported into the U.S., there are movements to make seafood more traceable. For example, technology exists to better track fish from bait to plate. Governments and large sellers are considering mandating DNA field kits to identify fish and combat problem of counterfeit fish. Restaurants like Red Lobster, and Grocers like Albertson's and Target are turning to non-profits like FishWise , a Santa Cruz, CA organization promoting fish sustainability, to ensure their fish are certified. Other for-profit organizations like SES Global and Trace Register also perform supply chain audits. Greenpeace's Carting Away the Oceans report card ranks supermarkets based on ethical purchasing decisions and supply chain transparency, and fishery- to- shelf traceability. In 2018, 90% of the supermarket chains had a passing grade, but only four: Whole Foods, Hy-Vee, Aldi, and Target, received the highest Green sustainability scores. Most, like Costo, Kroeger, Wallmart, etc., fell somewhere on the middle of the scale.

If, after reading this book, Urbina informs us that individuals interested in ethical seafood are encouraged to consult the FishWise website or one a number of other sources he identifies to learn more. For example, the Monterey Bay Aquarium produces seafood report cards which rank fish from an environmental perspective. Recently, the Monterey Aquarium included human rights into the ratings, joining Liberty Asia and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership to produce a seafood slavery risk tool which is a public database which can be searched by species or region. The WWF also publishes a useful Country by country guide on sustainable seafood.

One bright spot noted after reading the book - On May 11, 2021, U.S. Congressmen Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) introduced the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act, which aims to ensure that imported seafood in U.S. markets was not caught using forced labor or include illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fish. After reading this book, it's good to see that The House Natural Resources Committee and its Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife are working in a bipartisan way to combat IUU fishing and expand transparency across the seafood supply chain. ( )