Stable Seas Timeline

Stables Seas emerged in 2016 as a collaborative long-term peacebuilding project between three OEF program teams when it wasdeterminedthey realized that a comprehensive and holistic approach to maritime conflict and governance was needed. Oceans Beyond Piracy and Secure Fisheries–two of the founding programs–were already heavily addressing involved in specific maritime conflicts, but had come to realize that the issues they addressed could not be approached in isolation. The hard work, research, and efforts of Oceans Beyond Piracy and Secure Fisheries could still be effective and make a greatmake great impact in their specific fields, however both piracy and fisheries conflict needed to be viewed and understood as parts of the whole story of maritime security. Thus, Stable Seas was born as a collaboration between the two, supported by the Oceans Beyond Piracy, Secure Fisheries, and OEF Research.

July

2016

A small team at One Earth Future proposes a new “Stable Seas” data initiative to support holistic solutions to complex maritime security andgovernance problems.

May

2017

The new ad hoc Stable Seas team, composed of members of Oceans Beyond Piracy, Secure Fisheries, and OEF Research, publish anexamination of maritime security threats off the coast of Somalia titled Stable Seas: Somali Waters.

October

2017

Stable Seas launches the first Maritime Security Index at the annual Our Ocean conference in Malta. The inaugural edition of the index providesnovel data on nine maritime security issues for 30 countries along the coastline of sub-Saharan Africa.

January

2018

Due to the initial success of the Index, Stable Seas is asked by the U.S. Naval War College and the U.S. Navy to begin supporting the annual Obangame Express (Atlantic Africa) and Cutlass Express (Western Indian Ocean) multilateral naval exercises. The index is presented as ascene-setting overview of each region’s complex maritime security environment.

October

2018

One Earth Future classifies Stable Seas as an independent program and provides funding to hire an international full-time team of staff andcontractors.

February

2019

With the support of the UNODC, Stable Seas: Sulu and Celebes Seas is launched in Manila as the first in-depth regional qualitative study based on the nine issue areas of the Maritime Security Index. UNODC would later request and fund similar reports on regions including the Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Guinea, Caribbean, and Western Indian Ocean. These reports led to a variety of engagements and requests for more detailed technical assistance with national and regional stakeholders in these respective regions.

May

2019

Stable Seas releases its first major study on maritime terrorism, establishing the “5T Framework” in Soft Targets and Black Markets: Terrorist Activities in the Maritime Domain.

June

2019

With the support of the UNODC, Stable Seas launches the first of its annual State of Maritime Piracy reports to continue the annual seriesinitiated by Oceans Beyond Piracy in 2010.