Drones are revolutionizing ocean conservation. By flying closer and seeing more, drones enhance intimate contact between ocean scientists and activists and marine life. In the process, new dependencies between nature, technology, and humans emerge, and a paradox becomes apparent: Can we have a wild ocean whose survival is reliant upon technology? In Oceaning, Adam Fish answers this question through eight stories of piloting drones to stop the killing of porpoises, sharks, and seabirds and to check the vitality of whales, seals, turtles, and coral reefs. Drone conservation is not the end of nature. Instead, drone conservation results in an ocean whose flourishing both depends upon and escapes the control of technologies. Faulty technology, oceanic and atmospheric turbulence, political corruption, and the inadequacies of basic science serve to foil governance over nature. Fish contends that what emerges is an ocean/culture—a flourishing ocean that is distinct from but exists alongside humanity.

"“Oceaning is full of fascinating stories, finely rendered and theorized, about today’s tools of ocean monitoring. Adam Fish’s tales of marine conservation technologies maps fresh configurations of oceanic bodies, intimacies, and elementalities. You will not see that drone hovering above the seashore in quite the same way after you read this absorbing book.”" - A Book of Waves

"“This beautifully crafted, elegantly written, and poignant book offers a nuanced and complex rendering of the power and potentiality of drones to remake ocean conservation. Rooted in the lively materialities of ocean life, Oceaning foregrounds animal lives in a crucial way and never strays from considering the ethical dilemmas of conservation practices, eschewing the politics of purity as it demands we do something about the human impact on nonhuman life. This outstanding work is an absolute delight to read.”" - Governing the Wild: Ecotours of Power