The Outlaw Ocean

The Outlaw Ocean

CBC
True Crime
en-ca

Where the law of the land ends, the story begins. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Ian Urbina returns with a new season of his riveting podcast anthology, The Outlaw Ocean, which explores the most lawless place on earth — the vast unpoliceable ocean. New episodes starting June 4, 2025. 

 

In season two, Urbina sheds light on the secretive Libyan prisons swallowing up sea-faring migrants; flagrant human rights abuses in China’s massive off-shore fleet; the horrors of a shrimp processing plant in India; and the wild story of a modern-day James Bond — if he were a repo man. 

 

Urbina and his team repeatedly risk their safety to tell stories powerful people don’t want you to know. As podcast reviewer Lauren Passell notes, “Ian’s not relying on research, he was there [...] Outlaw Ocean makes you feel like you’re there, too.” 

 

This immersive audio documentary series brings together more than eight years of reporting at sea on all seven oceans and more than three dozen countries.

Episodes (18)

S2 Bonus: Let’s go below the surface with host Ian Urbina

S2 Bonus: Let’s go below the surface with host Ian Urbina

July 30, 2025 46m
They say you should never meet your heroes. Daemon Fairless disagrees. He takes us behind-the-scenes on The Outlaw Ocean, S2, from his intimate vantage point as its story editor. Fairless begins by...
S2 E8: The untold plight of North Korean workers (China Pt. 3)

S2 E8: The untold plight of North Korean workers (China Pt. 3)

July 23, 2025 30m S2E8
Spread across the Earth’s oceans, the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet is the single largest armada in human history. This three-part series is an unprecedented investigation into their secretive...
S2 E7: The unspoken cost of seafood (China Pt. 2)

S2 E7: The unspoken cost of seafood (China Pt. 2)

July 16, 2025 42m S2E7
Spread across the Earth’s oceans, the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet is the single largest armada in human history. This three-part series is an unprecedented investigation into their secretive...
S2 E6: The undisputed superpower of the seas (China Pt. 1)

S2 E6: The undisputed superpower of the seas (China Pt. 1)

July 09, 2025 56m S2E6
Spread across the Earth’s oceans, the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet is the single largest armada in human history. This three-part series is an unprecedented investigation into their secretive...
S2 E5: The shrimp factory whistleblower

S2 E5: The shrimp factory whistleblower

July 02, 2025 40m S2E5
What started off as a dream job, slowly revealed itself to be a nightmare. Josh Farenello moved to southern India to oversee a shrimp-processing plant, but it soon dawned on him that he’d been really...
S2 E4: The repo man of the seas

S2 E4: The repo man of the seas

June 25, 2025 49m S2E4
Depending on who you ask, Max Hardberger is either a seagoing James Bond or a swashbuckling pirate. Hardberger runs a rare kind of repo service, extracting huge ships from foreign ports. His company...
S2 E3: A team of journalists at gunpoint (Libya Pt. 3)

S2 E3: A team of journalists at gunpoint (Libya Pt. 3)

June 18, 2025 37m S2E3
The Libyan Coast Guard is doing the European Union’s dirty work, capturing migrants as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean into Europe and throwing them in secret prisons. There, they are...
S2 E2: A place “worse than hell” (Libya Pt.2)

S2 E2: A place “worse than hell” (Libya Pt.2)

June 11, 2025 49m S2E2
The Libyan Coast Guard is doing the European Union’s dirty work, capturing migrants as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean into Europe and throwing them in secret prisons. There, they are...
S2 E1: A war on migration, funded by the EU (Libya Pt. 1)

S2 E1: A war on migration, funded by the EU (Libya Pt. 1)

June 04, 2025 28m S2E1
The Libyan Coast Guard is doing the European Union’s dirty work, capturing migrants as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean into Europe and throwing them in secretive prisons. There, they are...
Welcome to The Outlaw Ocean (S2)

Welcome to The Outlaw Ocean (S2)

May 28, 2025 2m
In season two of The Outlaw Ocean, host Ian Urbina sheds light on the secretive Libyan prisons swallowing up sea-faring migrants; flagrant human rights abuses in China’s massive off-shore fleet; the...
The Outlaw Ocean

S1 E7: Epilogue — The Spell of The Sea

November 07, 2022 32m S1E7
Covering two-thirds of the planet, the sea is a workplace for more than 50 million people. The oceans produce half the air we breathe, and more than 80 percent of the products we consume traverse the...
S1 E6: The Magic Pipe

S1 E6: The Magic Pipe

October 31, 2022 49m S1E6
When a ship inadvertently spills oil, it’s big news. But every three years, ships intentionally dump more oil than the Exxon Valdez, and BP spills combined. This episode highlights a vexing and...
S1 E5: Waves of Extraction

S1 E5: Waves of Extraction

October 24, 2022 51m S1E5
The oceans are running out of fish. To slow down that problem, environmentalists pushed for fish farming or aquaculture. The problem is this industry became too big and too hungry. To fatten the...
S1 E4: From The Sea, Freedom

S1 E4: From The Sea, Freedom

October 17, 2022 51m S1E4
The sea has always been a metaphor for freedom – an escape from governments, laws and other people. This episode takes us off the coast of England to Sealand. A rogue “micronation” meant to embody...
S1 E3: Slavery At Sea

S1 E3: Slavery At Sea

October 10, 2022 1h 0m S1E3
Ian’s account of his groundbreaking reporting on slavery in the South China Sea, the first time a reporter had ever made it onboard a Thai distant-water vessel using enslaved labour. Found shackled by...
S1 E2: The Dark Fleet

S1 E2: The Dark Fleet

October 03, 2022 53m S1E2
It would be hard to believe if it hadn't actually happened. The longest law-enforcement chase in nautical history, spanning 110 days and 10,000 miles, featured a bunch of vigilantes pursuing...
S1 E1: The Murder Video

S1 E1: The Murder Video

September 26, 2022 53m S1E1
Crimes like this don't often happen on land. A 10-minute slow-motion slaughter captured by a cell phone camera shows a group of unarmed men at sea, possibly 15 of them, killed one by one by a...
The Outlaw Ocean

Introducing: The Outlaw Ocean

August 25, 2022 2m
High Seas. High Stakes. High Crimes. There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. Perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear...

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True Crime