The Outlaw Ocean Project

OO Podcast: The Repo Man Of The Seas

In Greece, Max Hardberger posed as an interested buyer, in Haiti as a port official, in Trinidad, a shipper.

Jun 25 • 

Ian Urbina

OO Podcast: A team of journalists at gunpoint (Libya Pt. 3)

The first three episodes of Season 2 of The Outlaw Ocean Podcast are now available, and we’re pleased to once again be working with CBC.

Jun 19 • 

Ian Urbina

OO Podcast: A War On Migration, Funded By The EU

On February 4, 2021, roughly 70 miles north of Libya, a reconnaissance plane with a camera on its underside circled a raft that was carrying a hundred…

Jun 4 • 

Ian Urbina

The Outlaw Ocean Podcast Returns for Season 2

Where the law of the land ends, the story begins

Jun 2 • 

Ian Urbina

May 2025

Federal Authorities Take Action on China’s Fishing Fleet

Bad things happened on the Zhen Fa 7.

May 29 • 

Ian Urbina

 and 

Austin Brush

April 2025

Raking The Waters

In 2015, an infamously-scofflaw fleet of more than 70 bottom trawlers from Thailand fished in the Saya De Malha Bank.

Apr 16 • 

Ian Urbina

Plumbing Seafloor Wealth

For the past decade, the mining industry has argued that the ocean floor is an essential frontier for rare-earth metals needed in the batteries used in…

Apr 14 • 

Ian Urbina

Creating A New Nation

Vast and sometimes brutal, the high seas are also a place of aspiration, reinvention and an escape from rules.

Apr 10 • 

Ian Urbina

Far Away From Human Rights

Hundreds of miles from the nearest port, the Saya de Malha Bank is one of the most remote areas on the planet, which means it can be a harrowing…

Apr 7 • 

Ian Urbina

Vanishing Protectors & Predators

In November 2022, several scientists in scuba gear dove over the side of a 440-foot research ship, which had been sent to the Saya de Malha Bank.

Apr 2 • 

Ian Urbina

March 2025

Robbing A Bank When No One’s Looking

The most important place on earth that virtually no one has ever heard of is called the Saya de Malha Bank.

Mar 31 • 

Ian Urbina

January 2025

Sometimes the Work Gets Noticed

I try to avoid using this channel for anything other than providing readers with substantive reporting.

Jan 24 • 

Ian Urbina