marine governance; neoliberalization; coastal communities; rights

Abstract: In the current climate of the global financial crisis, developed countries are increasingly focused on economic growth and development, and the crisis is continuously being used to entrench a neoliberal agenda allowing for further deregulation of the economy and privatization of public assets. The expansion of privatization of space for corporate interests has moved from primarily in-land and the coastal space to marine space with a range of policies and strategies including the privatization of marine resources, the displacement of coastal communities for further development of the coast and the dislocation of fishers for developments in the sea being only but a few broad examples. This presentation will focus on the need to start arguing for a new way of re-organizing across coastal and marine space, building alliances and start reclaiming the right to the sea, as resistance to the current wave of privatization, with specific example the EU and its Blue Growth strategy.
Keywords: marine governance; neoliberalization; coastal communities; rights