Marine Geography

Marine Geography: Ocean Space and Sense of Place advances the ?eld of marine geography to begin to de?ne it as a unique subdiscipline of geographic thought, and demonstrates how core theory and perspectives must be tweaked to be e?ective in approaching geographic challenges such as natural resource management, ?sheries, coastal development, marine environmental research and exploration, mobilities and legal issues of boundaries and enforcement, and any topics that include human-nature interactions in this space. It provides the geographic theories that must be adjusted and highlights unique spatial characteristics that must be accommodated appropriately to be applied towards issues in marine and coastal systems including boundary-making, dimensions, cultures of science/technologies, access, social constructions, and place vs space. This book lays out ways in which ocean space has been organized by humans and how we have determined boundaries and boundary systems in ocean space.

Though Marine Geography: Ocean Space and Sense of Place serves as a reference for a university-level course in marine and coastal geography, it also expands to other disciplines that contain a spatial component including environmental science, maritime industries, political science and international relations, policy professionals, natural resource management, planning/management organizations, and other ?elds that deal with marine or maritime spaces as an aspect of their focus.

• Offers ways to de?ne ocean geographies as a view from within contexts of ocean systems rather than a view from land that is simply extended seaward
• Establishes a strategy to adapt or reframe core theories in both human and physical geography to address marine systems specifically and propose a start to a formal sub-discipline of marine and coastal geography
• Suggests an appropriate theoretical lens system with which to organize ocean regions by core topics of both human and physical geographic theory
• Provides a picture of geographic features unique to ocean systems
• Lays the foundation for a distinct geography of marine spaces that can be used to confront issues such as marine natural resource management, science and exploration, communication, trade, boundaries, and governance