Image

 ![Coastal research landscape used as the Northmoor University hero image.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/camilo-botia-k4vFDPJoDZk-unsplash.1600x1200.jpg.avif?itok=ujHvC8nC)

 

 



Course code

MPOL 130

 

Course credit

1.00

 

Introduces the institutions and instruments that govern ocean use: domestic coastal and fisheries law, the framework of international ocean law, jurisdictional boundaries, and the agencies that carry out management in practice.

The course is organized around the question of authority — who holds it, where it stops, and what occupies the space where no one holds it clearly. Fisheries, offshore energy, shipping, conservation designation and pollution control are used as recurring cases.

No prior background in law or political science is assumed. The course is taken by students across all programs and treats scientific evidence as a live input to governance rather than as context, which is why the reading includes technical documents alongside statutes.



Instructors

[Dr. Nathaniel Brooks](/person/dr-nathaniel-brooks)

 

 

Terms offered

fall

spring

 

 

Offering frequency

every term