Much of Steven Mana‘oakamai Johnson’s work examines the ocean as a site of contested sovereignty, where conservation, militarization, resource extraction, and geopolitics intersect with Indigenous claims to place. His research traces how colonial legal architecture, including the Doctrine of Discovery, continues to shape who governs Pacific waters, and how large-scale marine protected areas and emerging industries such as deep-sea mining can reproduce or unsettle those histories. With his community partners, he studies how Indigenous communities assert authority over ocean spaces and how more just, pluralistic governance might address conflicts between local, national, and international interests. This commitment extends beyond the academy through his leadership with Tåno, Tåsi, yan Todu in the Mariana Islands, and his service on a National Academies committee assessing the social, cultural, and economic impacts of seabed mining.