Sean A. G. Andrews is a Captain in the Royal Australian Navy. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New South Wales. He was most recently a Fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford University and is now a fellow at the National Security College, Australian National University.
'Dr Sean Andrews is one of the leading naval and maritime thinkers of our age and he should be listened to. In this book he rightly identifies that policing, or constabulary operations, one third of Ken Booth’s famous trinity of naval roles – military, diplomatic, and policing – is seldom studied in a serious way. It is a poor relation to the military role, ‘warfighting’ in contemporary parlance, and he aims to set the record straight. This incredibly important truth is that navies and naval power keeps good order at sea, keeps trade flowing, and keeps the so-called rules based international order alive. In this respect, navies are critical to the governance of the oceans and the functioning of the global system. Readers might initially assume that this is an Australian book for Australians. It is not. It uses Australia as a case study but its analysis is as relevant to the Euro-Atlantic, the High North, the Mediterranean and the Gulf as it is to the Indo-Pacific. Naval Constabulary Operations and Fisheries Governance will be a go-to text and is highly recommended.' Kevin Rowlands, Head of the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre, UK 'This groundbreaking book by Australian naval Captain and scholar, Dr Sean Andrews, bridges a disciplinary and cultural divide between naval and maritime strategy and maritime security by illuminating the largely unrecognised strategic significance of illegal fishing. The book is a cri de coer over Australia’s indifference to its maritime geography and its undeveloped maritime or oceanic consciousness. It clearly demonstrates the long history of naval constabulary tasks, specifically fisheries operations. Andrews analyses four Royal Australian Navy fisheries enforcement operations over the last century (from 1911 to 2007), covering one from each of Australia’s four ocean regions. His work clearly shows that there is 'a need for a more integrated, cooperative and strategic approach, which may provide policy commonality that enables flexible, affordable and practical options and solutions for challenges in Australia’s maritime domain'. Andrews rightly observes that these operations 'are a practical expression of Australian strategy', but 'have never featured beyond a gesture in the pages of Australian strategy documents'. Until their recent passing, the Royal Australian Navy's leading intellectual lights included Commodore Sam Bateman and Rear Admiral James Goldrick. Andrews takes up the literary cudgel where his intellectual mentors and predecessors left off and brings a fresh perspective. Drawing on his own experiences as a salty practitioner, and a credentialed scholar, with his own PhD in the field, Andrews rigorously considers his well-chosen historical examples with ample and rigorously compiled evidence. This book makes a compelling case that Australia needs to take fisheries issues more seriously. It demonstrates that illegal fishing is now the number one global maritime security threat in the Indo-Pacific. As Andrews explains, unchecked it can be expected to continue to grow and disrupt vital food sources and fragile ecosystems, and foment tensions between states that will subvert good order at sea and threaten global instability.' John Blaxland, Director ANU North America Liaison Office, Washington DC and Professor of International Security & Intelligence Studies, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australia