Captain Lawson Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired), an oceanographer, is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and a researcher at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. During his Coast Guard career, he commanded four cutters, including the icebreaker Polar Sea (WAGB-11), on Arctic and Antarctic voyages.

Articles by Lawson W. Brigham

On this map, 200–nautical mile exclusive economic zones are shown in light blue, and the high seas, which will be covered by the new treaty, are in dark blue.

High Seas Treaty on Marine Biological Diversity

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
September 2023
The new treaty is underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which defines coastal state jurisdiction and establishes the international high seas.
Ships from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Future Challenges for the Baltic Sea

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
May 2023
The environmental security challenges in the Baltic Sea will likely intensify in the decades ahead with increasing marine traffic and regional warming.
shipping container

Green Corridors for Global Shipping

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
September 2022
Recognizing an urgent need for action on climate issues, the International Maritime Organization has mandated GHG emissions be reduced by 50 percent for all vessels by 2050.
Polar Sea

Arctic Rendezvous

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham U. S. Coast Guard
January 1995
On 23 August 1994—one day after becoming the first Canadian and U.S. surface ships to reach the North Pole from the Alaskan coast—the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent ...
Wind turbines on the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm, off the coast of Cumbria, England, in the Irish Sea.

Global Offshore Wind Energy: Emerging Ocean Use

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
January 2021
The offshore wind industry is a newcomer to the use of the oceans and seabed when compared with historic maritime sectors such as fishing, shipping, and offshore hydrocarbon development.
Dependence on the sea for critical resources has been key in Japan’s development as a maritime nation.

Japan and the 21st-Century Oceans

By Captain Lawson Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
September 2020
The stakes are high for Japan as the world’s third largest economy and one of the nations most dependent on the oceans.