A sea of trade and a sea of fish: piracy and protection in the Western Indian Ocean

Based on an ethnographic engagement with the Somali coast, this article reframes maritime piracy as an economy of protection linked to longer histories and contestations over trade, plunder, and profit in this region. Through the lens of protection, the article brings into view an emergent moral economy of piracy and ethical debates over the nature of work and trade, including the work of piracy in this oceanic space. Specifically, it brings to the forefront and argues for the analytical separation of two distinct processes and practices of Somali engagements with the sea. The first part locates the development of a “sea of trade” and the centrality of economies of protection within this maritime world. The second part of the argument emphasizes a “sea of fish” and the development of a licensing and rent-seeking regime off the coast of Somalia, from the 1970s onwards. The emergence of maritime piracy is located within these shifting currents and visions of the sea.