6 Is Blue Growth Creating Blue Injustice on Our Coasts?

The push for ocean-based economic development is accelerating worldwide, yet the communities depending on these waters are facing unprecedented pressures. Traditional fishing grounds are increasingly reoriented for industrial ports, energy infrastructure, and strict conservation zones.

In this episode, we unpack a transdisciplinary webinar hosted by the V2V Global Partnership featuring Dr. Joel Das from the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Chittagong. We examine the structural disconnect between international sustainability commitments and national policy implementation. Our conversation covers the environmental costs of the ship-recycling industry, the rise of the blue carbon agenda, and how participatory network mapping can expose the unequal power dynamics that exclude the last-mile resource users.

• Recognitional equity demands that the rights, traditional knowledge, and historical tenures of coastal populations are formally respected.
• Subsistence fishers are trapped in a vicious cycle during government-mandated ban periods due to poor law enforcement and inadequate ration compensation.
• A political ecology analysis of coastal mega-projects reveals a pattern of economic exclusion, ecological encroachment, and social entrenchment.
• Setting up a Community of Practice on Blue Governance can bridge the gap between central policymakers and the daily realities of grassroots practitioners.

A vital contextual highlight from this research is the use of Q-methodology to classify the opinions of local fishers into three distinct viewpoints: those who see mega-projects as creating injustice for growth, those who advocate for development within bounds, and those who demand fair compensation and risk management.

How can national governments restructure their maritime policies to prioritize the human rights of vulnerable fishers over the interests of elite investors?