
Most of the stories are reported at least partially at sea. The Outlaw Ocean Project’s journalism is distinct not just in its focus, but also in how the reporting is conducted and distributed.

The organization was founded and is directed by Ian Urbina, who produced an award-winning series in 2015 in The New York Times and a subsequent best-selling book in 2019. These concerns include the murder of stowaways, arms trafficking, illegal fishing, pollution, dumping, drilling and human slavery on fishing ships. And yet, this realm is home to a variety of urgent concerns that go largely overlooked by most news outlets because it is too costly, too dangerous and too time consuming to report on them. Half the air we breathe comes from the oceans.

Roughly 80 percent of the goods we consume reach us by way of the sea. More than 50 million people work offshore.
