Blue Crime

Transnational organized crime at sea, known as ‘blue crimes’ are one of the core issues on the maritime security and ocean governance agenda.

What do we know about transnational organized crime at sea? How do such blue crimes manifest, how do they intersect and are related to crime on land? What kind of data on blue crime is collected?

Evidence Base

These are the core questions that the Blue Crime Evidence Base project is addressing. Funded through a grant by the Economic and Social Research Council by the UK the goal is to collate and synthesize our knowledge on blue crimes to guide policy but also identify gaps. The evidence base provides a review of existing research on a wide variety of blue crimes. I can be accessed here.

What are blue crimes?

A conceptualization of blue crimes, what is the value of the concept and how they vary is provided in our article.

Other related research and activities:

Recording – What are the root causes of maritime piracy?
SafeSeas hosted the event 'What are the causes of maritime piracy' on 29th April 2021. Maritime piracy continues to be the most pressing blue crime on the international security agenda. Piracy is a problem of particular concern in the Gulf of Guinea today but remains a significant challenge in the Gulf of Aden, the Malacca Strait, and the Sulu and Celebes Seas too. An international consensus has emerged that in order to tackle piracy effectively, its root causes must be ...
New SafeSeas & Stable Seas report: ‘What We Know About Maritime Illicit Trades’
What We Know About Maritime Illicit Trades is the second in a series of reports as part of the Transnational Organized Crime at Sea: New Evidence for Better Responses project. The project is a collaboration between SafeSeas and the One Earth Future Foundation’s Stable Seas program and is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS) and the One Earth Future Foundation. Download ...
Participation in IFC Maritime Security Webinar
The Information Fusion Centre (IFC) based in Singapore is one of the most important international hubs for sharing information on the maritime domain. It enhances the global understanding what issues at sea need attention. One element of this work are frequent events for maritime stakeholders and an interested public. On the 25th of November, SafeSeas Director Prof. Christian Bueger gave a presentation, in the IFC's new 3 day online format, the 2020 Maritime Security Webinar. At the seminar Bueger provided ...
Video – Blue Crimes: Rethinking the Maritime Security Agenda
Christian Bueger (SafeSeas/Uni of Copenhagen) Timothy Edmunds (SafeSeas/Uni of Bristol), Jason Eligh (Global Initiative), Maria Damanaki (ex-EU Marine Commissioner), Cathy Haenlein (RUSI) & Alan Cole (UNODC GMCP) featured in our latest event. The event discussed the blue crime concept, drawing upon a paper written by Tim and Christian. Read the paper related to the event here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104067 ...
Event – ‘Blue Crimes: Rethinking the maritime security agenda’
10th September, 14.00-15.30 BST Presenter & Panellist Timothy Edmunds (SafeSeas/Uni of Bristol) Panellists Jason Eligh (Global Initiative)
Maria Damanaki (ex-EU Marine Commissioner)
Cathy Haenlein (RUSI)
Alan Cole (UNODC GMCP) Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6QrSxlSeSKeFF-GueWlxbA Piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing are three blue crimes increasingly high on the international agenda. Such crimes have different expressions across the world’s maritime regions and affect human lives, political stability and economic interests in different ways, ranging from their impact on coastal communities to international shipping and even national security ...