This work analyzes the effectiveness of the Colombian legal system in pursuing justice and claiming human rights in marine and coastal spaces, through the experiences of three fishing communities in Colombia. These are: a community with no ethnic recognition (Don Jaca), an Indigenous Wayúu community (Manaure), and an Afro-descendant community (La Boquilla). Each has asserted its rights over ancestral fishing territories by using legal mechanisms to confront infrastructure and coastal development projects related to coal ports (Ruling T-229/1993), offshore hydrocarbon exploration (T-011/2018), and tourism (T-376/2012 and T-226/2016), respectively. Through the review of secondary information and the use of participatory methodological tools, the research team gathered the perspectives of each community and reconstructed the historical transformations—both social and environmental—of their fishing territories. The results for each case study are presented based on an understanding of the communities’ livelihoods and relationships with their fishing territories, the judicialized fishing conflicts (issues and impacts), the notion of justice at sea (from a human rights perspective), and the strategies of defense and resistance developed by the communities.

This book is included in DOAB.