In the Mediterranean Sea, small-scale fisheries (SSF) display a wide array of fishing practices that produce negative impacts on ecosystems as, for instance, they disrupt biogenic habitats and overexploit target and vulnerable species, harming the equilibrium and health of marine organisms. This study presents previous research that investigates the issues aforementioned, enquiring how these small-scale fishing activities in the Mediterranean Sea may be analysed within an environmental criminality framework.

The environmental criminality concept is based on green criminology’s theories, which affirm that human activities that induce some kind of harm and distress – even when they are legally and politically legitimised – must be treated as environmental crimes. As oceans are more and more exploited, green criminology develops a blue criminology, which encourages the rethinking of fishing practices, embedded in capitalist dynamics. The theoretical background is formulated through ecofeminism, critical animal studies and posthumanism, which help us understand how the separation of humans from nature facilitated the exploitation of resources, lands, peoples, with more-than-human perspectives contributing to the understanding of our relation with nonhuman animals.

As a result of the blue growth narrative, oceans are seen as an infinite space with infinite resources. Blue humanities theories contradict these assumptions, acknowledging this development as environmental violence, and calling for a multispecies justice in the context of marine ecologies.