This is the first volume of the MARE Publication Series, and a cause for celebration. The initiating agency, the Centre for Maritime Research (MARE), is an interdisciplinary social-science organisation based in the Netherlands, whose aim is to provide a platform for the development and exchange of scientific knowledge on the use of marine and coastal resources. Its mission is to be a European research centre that is also explicitly concerned with maritime issues in the South. Its activities include the publication of the refereed journal Maritime Studies/MAST and, on a regular basis, the organisation of conferences on maritime and coastal topics.

We, the editors, are striving to create a series that addresses topics of contemporary relevance in the wide field of people and the sea. Our intention is to ensure the highest academic standards, through the involvement of specialists in the field and through the instrument of peer review. While allowing for diversity, we also, however, aim for coherence, if only in purpose.

Social scientists in the marine and coastal fields are a dispersed bunch. This is certainly true of those in Europe and the South. Our interaction is impeded not only by our geographical spread across departments and universities, but also by language barriers. The series thus aims to make visible, in the language with the greatest global reach, the excellent intellectual work that is being done by scholars on and from the various regions. Our concern is to ensure that scholarly work on coastal issues is disseminated widely, including to lowincome countries, so we aim to keep the price of our publications as low as possible.

Coastal zones the world over are facing a range of challenges, and the scholarly debate is currently tending to concentrate on the concerns of management and governance. While these topics will also figure in this series, we have no intention of producing policy handbooks. Our objective is rather to reflect critically – on contemporary fashions, too – and to explore new avenues of thought.

The present volume is a case in point. While co-operation between natural and social scientists is frequently paid lip service, the results of co-operation efforts are still limited.