The Outlaw Ocean

About The Outlaw Ocean

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.

Publisher

CBC

Category

true crime

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Aug 2022

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

16 of 24 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   9 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The real cost of fish feed

   Outlaw Ocean host Ian Urbina interviews Matt Galloway about the environmental and social costs of fish feed in aquaculture.

2. 

   10 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Outlaw Ocean Introduces: The Mile Zero Murders from Uncover

   Host Timothy Sawa investigates the baffling Mile Zero Murders in Dawson Creek, B.C., uncovering a community's struggle with a deadly drug trade and a desperate search for justice.

3. 

   3 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Outlaw Ocean Introduces: Hunting the Suicide Salesman

   Host Daemon Fairless investigates Kenneth Law, a Canadian salesman accused of supplying substances linked to over 145 deaths worldwide in this interview episode.

Inside a recent episode

The real cost of fish feed

Published 9 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Just the last point on the scale of this. One of the stats that you have in your report is what? More than a fifth of all marine life that is removed from the ocean is used for feed. Is that right? Yeah. More than a fifth is used for non-human consumption. And the vast majority of that is livestock feed, mostly fish farming. Some of it is pet food. Some of it is omega supplements, these pills you take for healthier living. But most of it is fish farming feed. And is this bycatch or is it where the where where is the fish coming from is it scraped part of this is is being scraped from the bottom because there's bottom trawlers as well but where is that fish coming from yeah so the the fish um is coming from uh mid water and lower water it's the target fish is typically small schooling fish um these are sort of the the bottom tier of the marine food chain, if you will. […]

Who has been a guest on The Outlaw Ocean

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Josh Farenello
• Max Hardberger
• Bren Smith
• Annie Leonard
• Richard Udell

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

511,581

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

875 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1,202 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 65 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

59

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

91

Contact The Outlaw Ocean

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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  Uncover

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  Someone Knows Something

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Questions about The Outlaw Ocean