The Transparent Ocean and the Geopolitics of Maritime Data: A Proposal for Bangladesh’s Strategic Prioritization

“Sea power in the 21st century is as much about information as it is about hulls and guns. The battle for maritime superiority is now being fought in the electromagnetic spectrum.”
— Admiral James Stavridis, Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO

High Spot
In the contemporary maritime landscape, a quiet yet transformative revolution is unfolding—heralded by the rise of data-driven and technology-enabled governance of the seas and oceans. This transformation is redefining traditional paradigms of maritime power and sovereignty. The French journal La Revue Internationale et Stratégique (RIS, Issue 138, Summer 2025) features a seminal article, “The Transparent Ocean? Geopolitics of Maritime Data,” which draws urgent attention to the emerging nexus between digital sovereignty and maritime security. It argues that control over maritime data has become as significant as control over maritime space itself. This article presents the author's reflections on these insights through the lens of Bangladesh’s strategic realities, recommending a forward-looking policy approach to navigate the complexities of data-centric ocean geopolitics.

Introduction: From Maritime Space to Maritime Data
Traditionally, oceans have been regarded as theaters of commerce and conflict—serving primarily as pathways for global trade, repositories of resources, and domains of naval projection. In classical geopolitics, sea power was measured by the size of the fleet, tonnage, control of chokepoints, and access to deep-sea ports. However, the 21st century has ushered in a profound metamorphosis. Maritime space is now deeply knotted with data flows, digital surveillance systems, and artificial intelligence. Today, the sea is not merely to be traversed or contested—it is to be sensed, scanned, felt, and interpreted.

The oceans are becoming "transparent"—a term used not to suggest clarity in the visual sense, but to denote the omnipresent surveillance and mapping capabilities now exercised through satellite constellations, synthetic aperture radar, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), underwater acoustic sensors, drones, and AI-driven analytics. In such a world, superiority does not only lie in who controls the sea, but in who sees the sea. Visibility, or the asymmetry thereof, is fast becoming the new currency of maritime power. This transparency creates an emergent form of competition—the geopolitics of maritime data—where the boundaries of surveillance, access, and analysis define new spheres of dominance.

The Data-Driven Maritime Order and the Global South
In the thematic analysis presented in RIS 138, the editors argue that this information-centric approach to maritime governance has given rise to a new strategic reality. States with superior data acquisition tools, satellite networks, and algorithmic prowess are exercising greater control over marine resources and activities, often without being physically present. Three dimensions of this shifting power structure particularly impact the Global South, including countries like Bangladesh:

1. Data Inequality: The divide between states with advanced surveillance capabilities and those without has widened. Developed nations are deploying space-based maritime domain awareness (MDA) tools to monitor the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of developing countries, often without reciprocal capabilities or consent. As a result, Bangladesh’s waters may be more visible to foreign actors than to its institutions.

2. Data Colonialism: The concept, analogous to historical resource exploitation, refers to the large-scale harvesting of marine environmental data from the waters of Global South nations—processed in Northern laboratories and stored in foreign cloud services—without local participation, transparency, or benefit-sharing. Even when data originates from the South, its ownership and value extraction remain externalized.

3. Strategic Vulnerability through Technological Dependence: Maritime surveillance systems that rely on foreign commercial satellites, naval alliances, or third-party cloud infrastructures create a dependency trap. In times of geopolitical tension or conflict, such dependencies could be weaponized or disrupted, rendering national security apparatuses paralyzed or misinformed.

These realities are not hypothetical—they are unfolding in real-time across global maritime frontiers. For a maritime nation like Bangladesh, situated in a geostrategically sensitive zone of the Bay of Bengal and the Indo-Pacific, such trends merit urgent policy attention.

The Bangladesh Context: Maritime Promise and Digital Gaps
Bangladesh, with its 710-kilometre-plus coastline and a maritime jurisdiction of 118,813 square kilometers, is fundamentally a maritime state. The peaceful resolution of maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar (2012) and India (2014) through international legal forums is a testament to the country's commitment to the rule-based maritime order. However, legal ownership must now be supplemented by informational control and technological oversight. Despite significant progress in blue economy initiatives and regional maritime cooperation, Bangladesh faces the following challenges:

1. Surveillance and Situational Awareness Deficit
Bangladesh’s maritime surveillance depends heavily on surface radar, coastal patrols, and limited AIS tracking. It lacks advanced satellite imaging systems, real-time oceanographic data collection tools, or homegrown machine-learning-based maritime analytics. As a result, activities such as illegal fishing, illicit trade, unreported submarine movements, or marine pollution may go undetected or face delayed responses.

2. Absence of a Maritime Data Governance Framework
There exists no codified national data policy specifically addressing the collection, ownership, protection, or sharing of maritime information. Multiple agencies (the navy, the coast guard, the meteorological department, the shipping authority, the fisheries, etc.) operate in silos, creating redundancies and inefficiencies in data utilization. Furthermore, no regulatory mechanism currently addresses the ethical use of data or cross-border data access in the marine domain.

3. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
As Bangladesh modernizes its naval and coast guard operations through digital platforms, integrated command systems, and cloud-based logistics, the risk of cyberattacks or data leakage increases. Without a robust maritime cybersecurity strategy, the integrity of coastal radar networks, AIS feeds, and classified naval data may be compromised by both state and non-state actors.

Strategic Recommendations for Bangladesh
To ensure sovereignty in the era of transparent seas, Bangladesh must undertake a multi-dimensional strategy that integrates technology, policy, and regional cooperation:

1. Establish a National Maritime Data Centre incorporating Maritime Spatial Data Infrastructure
Bangladesh should invest in establishing a dedicated, secure, and autonomous Maritime Data Centre capable of integrating MSP data, satellite feeds, AIS tracking, sonar data, and data from diverse oceanographic sensors. This centre would serve as a national hub for maritime domain awareness, emergency response, marine traffic analysis, and environmental monitoring.

2. Formulate a Comprehensive Maritime Data Policy
A national policy on maritime data governance is urgently needed—one that defines protocols for data acquisition, access, classification, sharing, and archival. This should include provisions for data localization, cloud security, privacy standards, and inter-agency coordination. A legal framework that recognises data as a sovereign asset must underpin this policy.

3. Develop a Maritime Cybersecurity Strategy
The evolving threat of cyberattacks targeting naval assets, shipping infrastructure, and ocean data systems must be addressed with a clear strategic posture. A maritime cybersecurity strategy should include vulnerability assessments, digital resilience drills, cyber hygiene training, and coordination with regional allies for sharing cyber intelligence.

4. Leverage Regional Platforms for Joint Surveillance and Data-Sharing
Bangladesh should play a leading role in forums such as BIMSTEC, IORA, and SAARC to initiate joint projects on satellite surveillance, piracy monitoring, and marine disaster response. Data-sharing arrangements, standard protocols, and regional trust frameworks can reduce redundancy and improve early warning capabilities across the Bay of Bengal.

5. Foster a Maritime Tech-Academia Complex
Research and innovation must become a cornerstone of Bangladesh’s maritime future. Institutions such as the Bangladesh Maritime University, CNRD, BIMRAD, BUET, MIST, and BORI, for instance, should be integrated into a national consortium tasked with developing indigenous solutions in maritime AI, ocean robotics, digital hydrography, and remote sensing. Such a complex would create a pipeline of skilled human capital and homegrown technologies.

Conclusion: From Nautical Charts to Data Charts
Dr. Christian Bueger, Professor of International Relations and Maritime Security expert, emphasized that Whoever rules the waves rules the world—but in our time, to rule the waves, one must first rule the data beneath them.” The ocean, once charted only by longitude and latitude, is now mapped by digital traces, algorithmic patterns, and satellite constellations. The concept of "sea control" has expanded from fleets and firepower to encompass sensors, signals, and bytes. In this new reality, sovereignty is not only about defending territorial waters but also about securing the informational envelope that surrounds them.

The article “The Transparent Ocean? Geopolitics of Maritime Data” reminds us that dominance at sea is increasingly determined by what one can observe, analyse, and predict—not just by what one can deploy or occupy. For Bangladesh, this insight is timely and transformational. To thrive in the maritime century, we must recognize that maritime data is not just a technical domain—it is a strategic imperative.

The sea is ours—but the visibility of that sea, the knowledge it generates, and the control it offers—must also belong to us. In an age where sight is sovereignty, strategic transparency must begin at home.


Commodore Syed Misbah Uddin Ahmad (Retd) BN is Director
General of Bangladesh Institute
of Maritime Research and Development (BIMRAD), Dhaka.