The Outlaw Ocean

Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A riveting, adrenaline-fueled tour of a vast, lawless, and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas.

There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.

Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways—drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil, and shipping industries, and on which the world's economies rely.

Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching.

Needs some editing

Interesting and compelling listen. As an audio book, it gets a little tedious and repetitive. The author writes that he doesn’t tie the chapters together and “leaves it to the reader” to do so. If he had, he would have smoothed out the repetition and perhaps had more insights. The narrator was great.

Eye opening book

Each chapter describes a specific problem that is happening out in the ocean through a story. Breathtaking and really eye opening. Must read

Outstanding Book on Ocean Stuff

This book covers everything from pirates to illegal fishing. The storytelling is good, not great, but since there are so few books that cover the topics covered here, the storytelling is elevated to something close to Hemingway.

It's a real shame that there aren't more journalists doing this type of reporting, so Urbina definitely deserves praise for being one of the few to venture into these inherently dangerous worlds. There are thousands of war reporters out there, and maybe only five(!!) that do any sort of worthwhile reporting on Ocean Lawlessness. That's just ridiculous.

I hope Urbina continues reporting on Ocean Stuff.

Great but has misleading info

great performance, intriguing stories. really draws attention to how lawless the oceans are. there are a few "facts" that just aren't true or embellished which feels like it discredited other claims. Good read though

Do you know where your frozen shrimp comes from?

Things I learned from this fascinating book:

-That bag of frozen shrimp from Indonesia or Viet Nam you bought at the grocery store has about a 20% chance of having been harvested by slaves. Slaves who live in inhuman conditions that are life-threatening, and where murder of crew members isn't unknown.

-That once you take your boat 25 miles off shore, there are literally no rules. This lawlessness is making the oceans a dead zone and a haven for human rights violations. Also some pretty scary war games.

Urbina's approach is to go directly on these ships whenever possible, so the visceral descriptions of what it's like to sleep two inches under the behind of a colleague that hasn't washed in two weeks, but inches above the rats and fish guts, makes this book readable and compelling.