The Labor Governance Frontier in Fisheries: A Critical Review and Future Outlook

Industrial fisheries are some of the most dangerous workplaces in the world. This paper argues that oceans deserve to be understood as 'working spaces' embedded within complex jurisdictions, material processes, and social relations. I coin the term 'labor governance frontier' to develop a conceptual analysis that captures the ways in which material processes and governance programs, introduced by state and non-state actors, seek to expand and improve labor rights at sea. Labor in fisheries is an emerging field that has caught the attention of diverse disciplines. I argue that, to date, little research has explored workers' individual and collective agency in relation to the materiality of working at sea. I explore the potential of the concepts labor regime, labor precarity, and hybrid governance, to comprehend and expand the labor governance frontier. I conclude by outlining a research agenda for labor governance frontiers.