Blue Economy or Ocean Grabbing? Accumulation, Ecology, and Labour in Capitalist Fisheries

Abstract

This article critically examines the discourses of “blue economy” and “blue growth,” which have recently gained a hegemonic position in international policy frameworks, from a political economy perspective. It argues that these discourses function as ideological frameworks that legitimize capitalist accumulation processes in the oceans while obscuring the ecological degradation and labour exploitation they generate. In this context, the fisheries sector is analyzed through the interrelated dynamics of accumulation, ecology, and labour. The article first traces the historical and institutional emergence of the blue economy, highlighting its depoliticizing function through the language of sustainability and governance. It then examines capitalist fisheries through the concepts of ocean grabbing and oceanic accumulation, focusing on the commodification of marine resources, the reconfiguration of access regimes, and the expansion of new commodity frontiers. Ecological crises are analyzed through the frameworks of the “tragedy of the commodity” and the “metabolic rift.” Finally, drawing on the labour regimes approach, the article explores labour processes and forms of exploitation in the fisheries sector. It demonstrates that fishing vessels constitute distinctive sites where production and social reproduction are intertwined, and where exploitation is intensified through migration, debt relations, and precarity. The article concludes that the promise of sustainable growth inherent in the blue economy discourse is structurally contradictory and that transformations in marine spaces must be understood as integral to capitalist accumulation.

Keywords

• Blue economy
• blue growth
• ocean grabbing
• labour regimes
• fisheries

Mavi Ekonomi mi, Okyanus Gaspı mı? Kapitalist Balıkçılıkta Birikim, Ekoloji ve Emek

Abstract

Bu çalışma, son yıllarda uluslararası politika belgelerinde hegemonik bir konuma yerleşen “mavi ekonomi” ve “mavi büyüme” söylemlerini eleştirel politik ekonomi perspektifinden analiz etmektedir. Makale, bu söylemlerin denizlerdeki kapitalist birikim süreçlerini meşrulaştıran ideolojik çerçeveler olarak işlediğini ve ekolojik tahribat ile emek sömürüsünü görünmez kıldığını ileri sürmektedir. Bu doğrultuda çalışma, balıkçılık sektörünü birikim, ekoloji ve emek arasındaki ilişkiler üzerinden ele almaktadır. İlk olarak mavi ekonomi söyleminin tarihsel ve kurumsal gelişimi incelenmekte, kavramın sürdürülebilirlik ve yönetişim dili aracılığıyla depolitize edici bir işlev gördüğü tartışılmaktadır. Ardından kapitalist balıkçılık, “okyanus gaspı” ve “okyanusal birikim” çerçevesinde analiz edilerek deniz kaynaklarının metalaştırılması, erişim rejimlerinin yeniden düzenlenmesi ve yeni meta sınırlarının açılması süreçleri ele alınmaktadır. Bu bağlamda ekolojik kriz, “metanın trajedisi” ve “metabolik çatlak” kavramları üzerinden değerlendirilmektedir. Son olarak emek rejimleri yaklaşımı temelinde balıkçılık sektöründeki emek süreçleri ve sömürü biçimleri incelenmektedir. Çalışma, balıkçı teknelerinin üretim ve yaşam mekânlarının iç içe geçtiği, göç, borç ilişkileri ve güvencesizlik üzerinden sömürünün derinleştiği özgül alanlar olduğunu göstermektedir. Sonuç olarak, mavi ekonomi söyleminin sürdürülebilir büyüme vaadi yapısal bir çelişki taşıdığı ve kapitalist birikim süreçlerinin ayrılmaz bir parçası olarak ele alınması gerektiği savunulmaktadır.

Keywords

• Mavi ekonomi
• mavi büyüme
• okyanus gaspı
• emek rejimi
• balıkçılık

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