The ‘Blue Economy’ is often framed as a revolutionary and transformative approach to marine and fishery development. However, scholars increasingly critique the Blue Economy in hopes that equity-related concerns can become more prevalent. While these efforts are important, historical materialist perspectives can more deeply challenge the assumptions and limits of economistic thinking. In that vein, Racial Capitalism posits that capitalist markets promote, solidify and rely on racial hierarchy to secure differential value accumulation. This study applies a Racial Capitalist analysis to illustrate how the expansion of capitalist social relations corresponded the re-solidification of white supremacy to (re)produce systemic inequality in Black maritime labour, and specifically fisheries labour, on the U.S. eastern seaboard. In this case, which occurred across several states and in a critically important marine-fishery system, the expansion of market relations corresponded with labour exploitation, naturalization of hierarchy and inequitable distribution of socioeconomic harm for Black workers. I identify three lessons from this case that Blue Economy and fisheries scholars should heed; specifically, be wary of market utopianism, technological innovation is not inherently progressive, and systemic exploitation still matters.

中文翻译：

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种族资本主义和海洋：黑人海上劳工的发展和变化，以及它对渔业和蓝色经济的意义

“蓝色经济”通常被描述为海洋和渔业发展的革命性和变革性方法。然而，学者们越来越多地批评蓝色经济，希望与股权相关的担忧能够变得更加普遍。尽管这些努力很重要，但历史唯物主义观点可以更深入地挑战经济学思维的假设和局限。在这种情况下，种族资本主义假设资本主义市场促进、巩固和依赖种族等级来确保差异化的价值积累。本研究应用种族资本主义分析来说明资本主义社会关系的扩张如何对应白人至上的重新巩固，从而（重新）在美国东海岸的黑人海上劳工，特别是渔业劳工中产生系统性不平等。在这种情况下，这发生在几个州和一个极其重要的海洋渔业系统中，市场关系的扩大与劳动力剥削、等级制度的归化和对黑人工人社会经济危害的不公平分配相对应。我从这个案例中确定了蓝色经济和渔业学者应该注意的三个教训；具体来说，要警惕市场空想主义，技术创新本质上不是进步的，系统性剥削仍然很重要。