The Outlaw Ocean

By Ian Urbina

A riveting, adrenaline-fueled journey through some of the most dangerous regions of the earth–the high seas, where lawlessness and physical risk prevail. There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. Perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and with no clear international authority, the oceans have become the setting for rampant criminality–from human trafficking and slavery to environmental crimes and piracy. Now, in The Outlaw Ocean, Ian Urbina–prize-winning reporter for The New York Times–gives us a galvanizing account of the several years he spent exploring and investigating the high seas, the industries that make use of it, and the people who make their–often criminal–living on it. He traveled on fishing boats and freighters, visited port towns and hidden outposts. He witnessed both environmental vigilantes and transgressors in action and faced a near-mutiny aboard a police ship conveying him to a meeting point miles from the coast. He describes pursuing employment agencies and shipowners to hold them accountable for labor abuses and traveling with a maritime repo man. Combining high drama, an investigative reporter’s eye for detail, and a commitment to social justice, The Outlaw Ocean is both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé of some of the most disturbing realities that lie behind fishing, shipping, and, in turn, the entire global economy.