LAUSR

Abstract Monitoring marine activities has always been a difficult task due to the vastness of the world's oceans. This inability to properly monitor both high seas and territorial zones alike has meant that illegal activities at sea have been able to flourish, from illegal fishing to human rights violations to maritime piracy. Lately, however, the rise of new methods of technological monitoring – from satellites to UAVs – has increased optimism that a better, technologically-aided method of ocean monitoring and governance may help to diminish the proliferation of these and other illegal activities. This paper considers the ways in which technological innovation has been proposed to help ocean monitoring and governance, and analyzes the extent to which the optimism over these new techniques is warranted.