The Unnatural History of the Sea by Professor Callum RobertsThe past and future of humanity and fishing ‘Eloquent and Inspiring’ Richard Page, Greenpeace Published by Gaia Thinking | 15th August 2007 | £ 7.99 | Paperback Will cod and chips be permanently of the menu for our grandchildren? Will global fish stocks really collapse within the next 50 years? The world faces a crisis because of over-fishing…Global fisheries have been in freefall for the last 30 years. The media today are full of shrill stories of the collapse or imminent destruction of fish stocks that have fed humanity for hundreds of years, if not longer, The Unnatural History of the Sea shows how we have arrived at this low point in our relationship with ocean life and what we must do to recover the bounty that has been lost. Presenting the first in a series of titles from Gaia Thinking, a new imprint launched by Gaia, The Unnatural History of the Sea is the first and only global account of the history of human exploitation of the sea written from the perspective of the effects fishing and hunting have had on the marine environment. In this compelling and meticulously researched book in which Callum Roberts provides a fascinating account of humanity’s relationship with the sea, taking readers from the dawn of commercial sea fishing in eleventh-century Europe to the present in a voyage through time and around the world. Eyewitness accounts of early explorers, travellers, fishers and merchants reveal that the oceans once supported abundances of fish and other wildlife that are almost unimaginable today. Centuries of slaughter for food and profit have devastated marine life from shoreline to the high seas and ocean depths. Today we are playing out the endgame of fishing, and in the process are turning large expanses of the sea into near lifeless wastes. The over-fishing problem has become so serious that some scientists predict that at current levels, all major fish stocks will have collapsed by 2050. However, Prof Roberts explains that we can have our fish and eat them if we reform our present catastrophic approach to fisheries management and create a global network of marine reserves where fish stocks can rebuild and habitats can recover. By restoring productive fisheries and recovering the health of the oceans, the ongoing decline and collapse of fish stocks can then be reversed. The Unnatural History of the Sea is an impassioned and engaging plea to recover the richness and diversity of marine life to ensure a healthy marine world for future generations. THE AUTHOR PART ONE: Exploiters in the Age of Plenty PART TWO: The Modern Era of Industrial Fishing PART THREE: The Once and Future Ocean |
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