Patterns of marine resource conflicts across Africa highlight need for fair access and benefit sharing for a blue economy

An increased focus on the blue economy across coastal African countries requires effective strategies for reducing marine resource conflicts to achieve goals of sustainable, equitable ocean development. We created a spatial database documenting marine resource conflicts (2008–2018) and conducted an expert survey to analyze patterns in conflict types and how they relate to actors, drivers, and resolution. Our findings indicate that 73% of conflicts were associated with access disputes and 28% were between non-fisheries sectors. National governments, small-scale or industrial fishers, and state enforcement agents were the most frequent actors. Illegal fishing, inequitable benefit distribution, and inadequate regulations were commonly reported conflict drivers. Less than one third of conflicts were resolved, but increased governance was cited as important for resolution. These results suggest policymakers may need to focus on access and benefit sharing issues and increase engagement of key actors in governance processes to realize blue economy ambitions.