Maritime Security and the Governance of ‘Sustainable’ Fisheries: Aligning Stakeholders Around Ecological Protection

As unsustainable practices degrade fish stocks and threaten the communities dependent upon them, sustainability has become an essential requirement for the security of fisheries. Traditional maritime security actors and practices are currently increasingly oriented towards ensuring the sustainability of fisheries. However, fisheries governance has fragmented into distinct clusters of actors who problematise sustainability issues in different ways, sometimes resulting in the targeting of different perpetrators and enactment of diverse practices. Reconciling these clusters raises distinct challenges. This chapter presents a communities of practice framework to argue that sustainability as a concept has played a significant role in bridging the different communities—Blue Economy, Blue Justice, maritime security, and ocean health—governing fisheries. Specifically, it analyses the governance implications of bringing maritime security practices into ensuring fishery sustainability. It demonstrates that while their adoption of sustainability has led these actors to have a positive problem-solving effect, there is ongoing contestation about the meaning of sustainability.