Joseph Klein

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED: This book tells the story of Indonesian commercial divers who supply rare and beautiful wild corals to the global aquarium industry, and who see their connection with this world crossing commodity chain as a rare opportunity to pursue fortune and economic security in an era of declining ocean productivity. Like millions of other fishers and marine product collectors in Indonesia who lack access to land, capital, education, or dignified employment, coral divers in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, have turned to the sea as a source of livelihood and good fortune. But while participating in this supply chain offers unparalleled access to lucrative foreign markets, it also bring substantial risks–both bodily risk and financial risk–and neither safety nor incomes are guaranteed. At the same time, environmental degradation threatens to undermine the ability of the sea to support the livelihoods of not only the divers, but all coastal peoples. This book explores economic culture and patterns of labor within global commodity chains and in an era of radical inequality and environmental destruction. It argues for a reconceptualization of the labor relations involved in fisheries production–and draws attention to the labor and livelihood crisis sweeping the world’s oceans.