Ocean frontiers: epistemologies, jurisdictions, commodifications

Abstract

The dynamic and unfolding relationship between the oceans and humans underwrites a general narrative of oceans in ‘crisis’ and the need for new governance and regulatory frameworks to attend to it. As concerns surrounding marine space have proliferated, sovereignty, territory and property in the oceans remain imprecise and subject to controversy, presenting challenges (and opportunities) for oceans governance. This special issue employs the concept of ocean frontiers as a pivot into these concerns because of the eroding, but still frequent, portrayal of the oceans as a planetary space separate from humans and because the concept offers entry points for navigating the unfolding dimensions of ocean conservation and exploitation. Deducing from the eight contributions from the special issue, we develop four inter‐related arguments. First, while ocean frontiers pre‐exist the epistemological, jurisdictional and commodification categories that we conceptualize in this editorial introduction, we find that these categories, which may be understood as intersecting in ocean regimes, play central roles in closing the spatial and socially‐constituted ocean frontier, bringing it closer to human purview. Second, the materiality of oceans – their mobile and volumetric elements ‐ influences all of these emerging and intersecting oceanic processes. Third, contributing authors have developed innovative methodological approaches to the study of the oceans, revealing oceans not as ‘siteless’, but multi‐sited, and demonstrating that the social sciences are well suited methodologically to bring unfolding ocean processes into view. Last but not least, drawing from the insights set out by the contributors, we argue for ongoing interdisciplinary social (and natural) science research on the oceans as they and human‐ocean relations unfold in a period of dramatic change.

Uncharted territories in tropical seas? Marine scaping and the interplay of reflexivity and information

“…Due to the fragmented and highly dynamic institutional setting, rule-making at sea needs to be conceptualized in a way that territorialization is not automatically coupled to the nation state (Campbell et al 2016;Jay 2018;Havice and Zalik 2018;Lamers et al 2016;van Tatenhove , 2017Toonen and Bush 2018). This argument finds support in spatial and social theory alike, yet we draw predominately on the latter.…”

The territories of governance : unpacking the ontologies and geophilosophies of fixed to flexible ocean management, and beyond

“…However, while these contributions make important, critical in-roads, they often stop short of examining in greater detail, ontological questions that drive our approaches to governance in the first place, and in particular the underscoring spatial logics that inform many management techniques. The work of Boucquey and colleagues [22] and Havice and Zalik [23] provides important exceptions. Although not focused on territory, the latter authors address the ontological and epistemological drivers of ocean use, management and governance through the ocean's construction as a frontier space.…”

Transnational Resort: a Transformative Investment in the Global Knowledge Economy

“…As a result, international negotiations are intensifying in an effort to bridge two opposing views: declaring these resources the "common heritage of mankind" or leaving them free-for-all, patentable by anyone under the principle of the "freedom of the high seas" (Kintisch 2018). In their editorial in the recent issue of the International Social Science Journal, dedicated in its entirety to "Ocean Frontiers," Havice and Zalik (2018) note that these unfolding processes and the projects aimed at governing the ocean and ocean resources stand to reshape human use and relationship with the oceans for generations to come.…”