Fishing in Oil: Traditional Sustenance in a Resource Economy For generations the vast majority of Arabs and Persians of the Gulf region depended on marine resources for their sustenance. They ate fish, dove for pearls, and built houses with slabs of coral mined from the ocean floor. It was a lifestyle, however meager at times, that provided freedom from regional and international rulers since flight was easy. Dwellings were permanent but simple and fish traps could be rebuild elsewhere, so interference from governments and imperial powers was not a major concern for coastal dwellers. Two twentieth century changes fundamentally altered Gulf residents’ relationship to the sea. The first was the discovery of oil. Though oil was not discovered in all regions at the same time, even the prospect of black gold altered the political, environmental, and social balance in the Gulf. The second, related, change was the further solidification of international boundaries and ongoing British efforts to establish maritime boundaries as well as terrestrial ones. These two alterations in Gulf organization undermined both traditional fisheries and the way Arabs and Persians related to the sea. My goal is to merge the political with the social by assessing the effects of diplomatic and economic changes on the fabric of Gulf lives. It will focus attention on the underbelly of the oil boom by examining how traditional methods negotiated space in a world defined by lucrative new resources and corresponding forms of political organization. Freedoms once gained by relying on mediocre fishing resources were lost as opportunities were limited by political decisions, new deep-water piers interfered with fish migration, and many men went to work on foreign-owned oil rigs rather than eke out a living from the sea. Finally, I am interested in how local residents of the Gulf coast view the sea itself now that it no longer provides their daily provisions. This paper is based on a variety of sources, including archival sources from the British Foreign Office and Reformed Church of America’s mission to the gulf, observations from scientists and British colonial figures, and, when possible, memoirs and interviews with Gulf residents. By reading across the grain of political correspondence I aim to look at the residue that oil has left in its wake.