or many years, the term “sea blindness” has been used to describe the human propensity not to pay any attention to the 70% of this earth covered in water. As a species, human beings tend to focus on the terrestrial environment, with only a very small percentage directly using the maritime domain, and an even smaller percentage working to understand it. Ironically, modern society is entirely dependent on matters at sea—for 90% of all trade, 20% of all dietary protein intake, and 99% of all telephonic and internet activity. We are not only blind to the sea, but we are also blind to the wealth that comes from the sea and rarely reflect on the value of the maritime domain to life on land. With this blindness comes a pernicious problem: when we perceive a problem in the maritime realm, we tend to blame what we can easily see.
When fish stocks decline, do we seek scientific explanations for what has gone wrong, or do we blame the near–shore artisanal fishers and their canoes? When the marine environment is degraded, do we look to find the actual cause, or do we pin it on coastal tourism and construction that is in sight and thus in mind? When coral reefs bleach and disappear, do we seek a biological answer, or do we blame sunscreen on swimmers, and passing storm systems? From a political and public perspective, it is always easier to blame what we see, but this can create intractable false narratives that prevent problems caused by the unseen from ever being solved.
Laying blame on sea blindness can also create more blindness. We may become so focused on the local fishers in canoes, the coastal construction or the tourists with sunscreen that we miss the foreign fishing fleets decimating that maritime domain just over the horizon or the global shipping fleets dumping toxic waste and poisoning the water. The vastness of the maritime domain and our inherent terrestrial mindset make it easy for illicit, undesirable and unsustainable activities to hide at sea. And when we become so possessed with a narrative that makes sense to us—because we can see it from the shore—we can let bad actors operate undeterred at sea while we try to change things that contribute little or nothing to the problem for which they are being blamed.
This blindness even extends to the application of modern technology and maritime domain awareness systems that are now widely available for both governmental and private use. It is important to not lose sight of what is “out of sight” when analyzing problems we face. While the use of vessel detection technology is growing it is critical to understand that what we see on a screen is an incomplete picture and while an obvious solution may appear to be in front of our faces on a monitor, there is an increasing need to carefully juxtapose technology with real world patrol intelligence to paint a true picture of what is really taking place in the maritime domain. Nefarious actors know these systems, and know how to manipulate those using them. There is no substitute for human eyes on a problem.
At the same time, many in the maritime security world speak prolifically about “dark activity,” connoting the maritime movements that occur without tracking technology turned on. As much as this is a problem—for both safety and security—there is often an irony to it, in that the same agencies that complain about dark activity fail to act on what is actually visible to them already—either from shore, patrols or technology platforms. As a result, critical security gaps persist despite improved situational awareness, allowing illegal activities to continue unchecked offshore. So, conscious blindness can be as much an excuse as it is a problem.
There is nowhere that this divide is more visible than in the fisheries sector. Digital technological tools have significantly enhanced the ability of maritime agencies to monitor activities within their waters. However, these tools have contributed to an enforcement imbalance where artisanal fishers are disproportionately targeted for violations due to their proximity to law enforcement, while industrial vessels, operating offshore and out of sight, evade similar scrutiny. This imbalance of “nearshore visibility versus offshore blindness” is part of a broader pattern where governments, under the banner of conservation and sustainability, impose strict regulations on artisanal fishers while simultaneously expanding industrial fishing activities through foreign fisheries agreements and licenses. This all happens despite clear evidence that industrial fleets are major contributors to overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This imbalance deepens inequality, erodes trust in conservation efforts, and undermines the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives.
We must consider that current maritime security narratives may well have been shaped by this sea blindness and myopic blame over time. If that’s the case, then changing these long–standing and universally–accepted norms requires far more work than it took to create them in the first place. Indeed, maritime security professionals face a daunting challenge where sticking to the status quo is far easier and more acceptable than going against the grain. There is a need across the board for us to strive for both visibility and understanding of the situations we face and a particular objectivity in thinking is required to defeat this sea blindness epidemic that currently plagues us, else we penalize the people that are already vulnerable and affected by depleting oceans resources. To that end, education is perhaps as critical as technology so as to become aware of blindness and not continue to make policy and take action based on it. We must curtail our tendency to blame all maritime problems on what we can see from shore.
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Maritime issues are pinned to what we see, not what’s at sea
Image via Adobe Stock.
November 25, 2025
Over 70% of the world is covered in water, yet we remain largely blind to the sea and its importance to our lives. That blindness means when maritime problems arise, we blame it on what’s visible, not what is at fault, write Virun Lutchman, Dr. Ian Ralby, and Dr. Ifesinachi Okafor–Yarwood.
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or many years, the term “sea blindness” has been used to describe the human propensity not to pay any attention to the 70% of this earth covered in water. As a species, human beings tend to focus on the terrestrial environment, with only a very small percentage directly using the maritime domain, and an even smaller percentage working to understand it. Ironically, modern society is entirely dependent on matters at sea—for 90% of all trade, 20% of all dietary protein intake, and 99% of all telephonic and internet activity. We are not only blind to the sea, but we are also blind to the wealth that comes from the sea and rarely reflect on the value of the maritime domain to life on land. With this blindness comes a pernicious problem: when we perceive a problem in the maritime realm, we tend to blame what we can easily see.
When fish stocks decline, do we seek scientific explanations for what has gone wrong, or do we blame the near–shore artisanal fishers and their canoes? When the marine environment is degraded, do we look to find the actual cause, or do we pin it on coastal tourism and construction that is in sight and thus in mind? When coral reefs bleach and disappear, do we seek a biological answer, or do we blame sunscreen on swimmers, and passing storm systems? From a political and public perspective, it is always easier to blame what we see, but this can create intractable false narratives that prevent problems caused by the unseen from ever being solved.
Laying blame on sea blindness can also create more blindness. We may become so focused on the local fishers in canoes, the coastal construction or the tourists with sunscreen that we miss the foreign fishing fleets decimating that maritime domain just over the horizon or the global shipping fleets dumping toxic waste and poisoning the water. The vastness of the maritime domain and our inherent terrestrial mindset make it easy for illicit, undesirable and unsustainable activities to hide at sea. And when we become so possessed with a narrative that makes sense to us—because we can see it from the shore—we can let bad actors operate undeterred at sea while we try to change things that contribute little or nothing to the problem for which they are being blamed.
This blindness even extends to the application of modern technology and maritime domain awareness systems that are now widely available for both governmental and private use. It is important to not lose sight of what is “out of sight” when analyzing problems we face. While the use of vessel detection technology is growing it is critical to understand that what we see on a screen is an incomplete picture and while an obvious solution may appear to be in front of our faces on a monitor, there is an increasing need to carefully juxtapose technology with real world patrol intelligence to paint a true picture of what is really taking place in the maritime domain. Nefarious actors know these systems, and know how to manipulate those using them. There is no substitute for human eyes on a problem.
At the same time, many in the maritime security world speak prolifically about “dark activity,” connoting the maritime movements that occur without tracking technology turned on. As much as this is a problem—for both safety and security—there is often an irony to it, in that the same agencies that complain about dark activity fail to act on what is actually visible to them already—either from shore, patrols or technology platforms. As a result, critical security gaps persist despite improved situational awareness, allowing illegal activities to continue unchecked offshore. So, conscious blindness can be as much an excuse as it is a problem.
There is nowhere that this divide is more visible than in the fisheries sector. Digital technological tools have significantly enhanced the ability of maritime agencies to monitor activities within their waters. However, these tools have contributed to an enforcement imbalance where artisanal fishers are disproportionately targeted for violations due to their proximity to law enforcement, while industrial vessels, operating offshore and out of sight, evade similar scrutiny. This imbalance of “nearshore visibility versus offshore blindness” is part of a broader pattern where governments, under the banner of conservation and sustainability, impose strict regulations on artisanal fishers while simultaneously expanding industrial fishing activities through foreign fisheries agreements and licenses. This all happens despite clear evidence that industrial fleets are major contributors to overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This imbalance deepens inequality, erodes trust in conservation efforts, and undermines the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives.
We must consider that current maritime security narratives may well have been shaped by this sea blindness and myopic blame over time. If that’s the case, then changing these long–standing and universally–accepted norms requires far more work than it took to create them in the first place. Indeed, maritime security professionals face a daunting challenge where sticking to the status quo is far easier and more acceptable than going against the grain. There is a need across the board for us to strive for both visibility and understanding of the situations we face and a particular objectivity in thinking is required to defeat this sea blindness epidemic that currently plagues us, else we penalize the people that are already vulnerable and affected by depleting oceans resources. To that end, education is perhaps as critical as technology so as to become aware of blindness and not continue to make policy and take action based on it. We must curtail our tendency to blame all maritime problems on what we can see from shore.
