On November 6, human geographer Sonja Ganseforth presented her latest research on the implications of the Japanese Fishery Law reform for small-scale coastal fisheries at the “Coastal Transitions: Blue Economy” 2020 conference. Based on qualitative field research in rural Japan, Sonja’s paper “Blue Growth or Decline in Japanese Coastal Fisheries” analyzed how global discourses of sustainable growth and institutional reform in the Japanese fishing sector are driving the enclosure of one of the last vestiges of natural resource commons. The focus on private capital and presuppositions of economic and scientific rationality drives the commodification and enclosure of this contracting commons – a process supported by domestic political circles as well as through international agenda setting campaigns. Sonja’s presentation is part of her ongoing research project on Fishing communities between growth and demise in Japan. The online conference “Coastal Transitions: Blue Economy” was jointly organized by Liverpool John Moores University, Southern Connecticut State University and MIC University of Limerick.