Reimagining Ocean Laws from the Shore: Lessons from Indigenous Peoples’ Struggles against Salmon Farming in Sápmi and Fütawillimapu

In Sápmi (Norway) and Fütawillimapu (Chile), the Sea Sámi and Huilliche-Mapuche peoples, alongside coastal fishers, are defending their customary relations with coastal ecosystems in the context of a growing salmon aquaculture industry. Drawing on legal ethnography in two sites, this article analyses how the coexistence of Indigenous and State ocean laws is reimagined in the encounter between the transnational salmon farming industry and Indigenous communities. In Sápmi, a coastal zone planning process must weigh Sea Sámi interests against salmon farming growth. In Fütawillimapu, State-corporate actors are pushing back against the revitalisation of marine coastal spaces of Indigenous Peoples. Local and Indigenous Peoples’ participation in coastal planning in Sápmi and Fütawillimapu reveal Indigenous ocean laws that have been marginalised in the pursuit of aquaculture development. In doing so, they make visible alternative legal imaginaries for a time of social-ecological crisis.