The sea has a seat at the table

A fundamental question, though: Who exactly speaks for the sea? The marine ecologist? The fisherpeople? The octopus? The plankton? Perhaps all of them.

2 min readJul 16, 2026 06:15 AM IST

First published on: Jul 16, 2026 at 06:15 AM IST

The Scottish Association of Marine Scientists (SAMS) is amongst the world’s oldest ocean research agencies. Founded in 1884 by the naturalist John Murray, it connected the early academic mapping of ocean floors with practical economic initiatives. Murray himself partnered with the British government to extract phosphate from oceanic islands. The father of oceanography may have found the latest move of the institution he founded eccentric — the Atlantic Ocean is now a trustee of SAMS.

Today, the idea of viewing nature as sentient doesn’t sound as quirky as it might have in Murray’s time. New Zealand has recognised the Whanganui River as a legal person, courts in Colombia recognise the Amazon rainforest as a rights-bearing entity, and Spain’s law has extended personhood to the Mar Menor lagoon. Behind these developments lies a growing recognition that ecosystems have an agency of their own. Now, an institution most dedicated to studying the sea has recognised that expertise alone is not enough: Scientists can explain what is happening beneath the waves, but they cannot always ensure that institutional decisions reflect the long-term health of waters.

A fundamental question, though: Who exactly speaks for the sea? The marine ecologist? The fisherpeople? The octopus? The plankton? Perhaps all of them. Even before the era of climate change, the sea was never known for concise interventions. In the coming weeks and months, SAMS will be watched for how its board meetings translate tides and waves to talking points and currents to committee notes.