This handbook provides a path-breaking overview of the rapidly developing field of critical ocean studies. It is the first cross-disciplinary and in-depth account of critical ocean studies. While the academic application of critical analysis to ocean, coastal, and island studies has been expanding in recent decades, studies are fragmented across disciplines and publishing venues. This handbook brings together perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, arts, and other ways of knowing to identify key insights from the diverse and dynamic field of critical ocean studies. Organized into three sections covering themes of concepts, criticisms and agency, it examines ways in which researchers enhance understanding of environmental and social relationships and injustices in and around the ocean. This handbook will invite critical analysis and shape research agendas to meet the demands of new knowledge and a changing world. Routledge Handbook of Critical Ocean Studies will be of interest to scholars from across disciplines. By engaging a wide range of perspectives on critical ocean studies, it will serve as an excellent resource for graduate students, interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners. This handbook identifies emerging research opportunities in critical ocean studies and encourages students and researchers to apply insights from this field to better understand and address environmental and social problems.