The Cyclical Nature of Maritime Security Threats: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing as a Threat to Human and National Security in the Gulf of Guinea

Analyzes of [maritime] security issues have long focused on threats to the nation-state, thereby promulgating traditional state-centric security policies and practices. The preceding claim is valid for maritime security responses on the African continent, where piracy/armed robbery at sea has been met with robust regional and international interventions, and resulted in two UN resolutions and regional policies. Focusing primarily on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, this paper seeks to highlight the centrality of human security issues to national security by providing evidence of the cyclical relationship between the two; anything that undermines human security, explicitly threatens national security. Utilizing evidence from Nigeria, the paper critiques the tendency to ignore the individual as the referent object of security.