1st Edition

The Unruly Ocean Law and Justice in the World’s Oceans, Seas and Shorelines

By Erika Techera, Joy McCann Copyright 2025
340 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

340 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

340 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book introduces non-specialist readers to the history of how human societies have sought to control, use and exploit our oceans, seas and shorelines over time in different geographical and cultural contexts. The Unruly Ocean examines the development of the modern international legal regime – the law of the sea, maritime law, marine environmental and pollution law, fisheries regulation,... Read more

Introduction

 

PART I – THE OCEAN AS TERRITORY

1.      Undercurrents: Legal approaches and maritime concepts

2.      Fluid boundaries: Shoreline borders and maritime zones

3.      Disorder at sea: Piracy, war and illegality

 

PART II – THE OCEAN AS RESOURCE

4.      An ‘inexhaustible’ bounty: Fishing and farming of marine life

5.      Seafaring: Ships and shipping law

6.      Disrupting the flow: Construction and extraction in the deep ocean  

 

PART III – THE OCEAN AS ECOSYSTEM

7.      The fragile ocean: Protecting species and ecosystems

8.      Ocean space: protecting marine areas and regions

 

PART IV – THE OCEAN AS REPOSITORY

9.      Waste: Discharge, dumping and debris at sea

10.  Shipwrecks to sea shanties: Safeguarding maritime cultural heritage

11.  Ways of knowing: Ocean knowledge, research and data

 

PART V – THE OCEAN AS FUTURE

12.  Anthropocene ocean: turning the tide of oceans governance

Biography

Dr Erika Techera is Professor of Law at The University of Western Australia. She researches on international and comparative environmental law, particularly oceans. She is a co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law, 2021, and co-author of International Law of Sharks, 2017.

Dr Joy McCann is an environmental historian affiliated with the University of Tasmania. Her research focuses on oceans, ice, islands and coastlines of the southern hemisphere, and her publications include Wild Sea: A History of the Southern Ocean, 2019.