Product Details

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

What informed scientists now know, as Callum Roberts writes in this measured but passionate and immensely important book—a trenchant, persuasive synopsis of existing scholarship augmented by the author's own research—is that the resources of the sea are as limited as those of land and air, and that our capacity penchant for exploiting them to the point of extinction is appalling…It is…nothing less than a global catastrophe, about which Callum Roberts has issued a powerful, galvanizing call to arms.

Publishers Weekly

Marine conservation biologist Roberts presents a devastating account of the effects of fishing on the sea. Once abundant aquatic life has declined to the point where "we probably have less than five percent of the total mass of fish that once swam in Europe's seas," he states. Intensive fishing since medieval times has caused this decline gradually over the centuries, so that the fish-deprived sea seems normal to today's generations. Industrial fishing, especially trawling, has virtually eliminated entire habitats, including cod in Canada, oysters in Chesapeake Bay and herring in the North Sea. Now, sophisticated devices such as sonar depth sensors are being used to plunder that last frontier, the deep sea. Callum's alarming conclusion is that by the year 2048, "fisheries for all the fish and shellfish species we exploit today will have collapsed." He argues persuasively for the establishment of marine reserves-protected areas where fish stocks have a chance to recover. His impressive book, replete with quotations from the reports of early explorers, merchants and travelers describing seas teeming with life that's unimaginable today, is a vivid reminder of what we've lost and a plea to save what is left and help the sea recover some of its earlier bounty. Illus. not seen by PW. (Aug. 15)

Washington Post Book World

Named one of the Washington Post''s "10 Best of the Year"

— Jonathan Yardley

Honolulu Advertiser

"The accounts presented in The Unnatural History of the Sea provide compelling comparison benchmarks and expose the harm done by mankind''s continued view of wildlife solely as commodity."

Charleston Post & Courier

"Roberts'' powerful, almost poetic account of the history of fishing and its deleterious effects on the sea at once alarms and informs."

— Bob Knight

Conservation magazine

"[Roberts] argues that nearly 30 percent of the world's oceans should be set aside as Marine Protected Areas, and his vivid accounts of centuries of relentless harvesting suggest that drastic measures are in order."

Audubon magazine

"The Unnatural History of the Sea is not just another lament over bygone environmental conditions. Roberts highlights the value of conservation efforts, such as marine reserves (areas off-limits to fishing), reminding readers that an awareness of history is essential to designing such programs."

Booklist

"Roberts is eloquent and persuasive as he recounts centuries of ill-managed fishery planning, and allows those who have directly experienced dramatic changes in the oceans to speak for themselves....Thoughtful, inspiring, devastating, and powerful, Roberts'' comprehensive, welcoming, and compelling approach to an urgent subject conveys large problems in a succinct and involving manner. Readers won''t be able to put it down."

Greenpeace

"Out of sight, out of mind - the wholesale destruction of marine life under the waves by an increasingly rapacious fishing industry has largely gone unnoticed. This eloquent and inspiring book not only reveals the true extent of this loss but also tells of the oceans' amazing powers of regeneration. A long-time advocate for setting aside large areas of ocean as marine reserves and allowing nature to do her own thing, Professor Roberts makes the case crystal clear as to why politicians and society as a whole must act now if we are to save our oceans and the beauty and the bounty they contain."

— Richard Page

Washington Post

Washington Post Book World critic Jonathan Yardley lists The Unnatural History of the Sea as one of his top ten best books of this year: "[Callum] Roberts''s book is invaluable, not to mention deeply disturbing."

— Jonathan Yardley

Philadelphia Inquirer

"So fascinating, so well-written, so rich with detail.. I couldn''t put this book down."

— Sandy Bauers

Judith B. Barnett - Library Journal

Roberts (marine conservation, Univ. of York) dramatically contrasts historical accounts of the unbelievable abundance of all types of marine life with descriptions of the current scarcity and extinction of many species of fish around the world. His well-documented and objective study of the history of fishing and overfishing since the 11th century traces the gradual depletion of the traditional cod, herring, haddock, and flounder fisheries, as well as whale, seal, and walrus populations. Once-busy fishing ports are now sleepy towns, witnesses to the growing scarcity of previously plentiful species caused by trawling gear, sonar depth sensors, and geographic positioning systems that enable commercial fishing fleets to catch huge amounts of fish in less time while also doing unimaginable physical harm to the ocean bottom and disturbing ecological balances. As Richard Ellis (The Empty Ocean) and Charles Clover (The End of the Line) have pointed out, decades of international efforts at marine management have been ineffectual. Roberts proposes basic changes in landings statistics and quotas, as well as designating at least 30 percent of the world's oceans as marine reserves. Sadly, one wonders how many more books on this subject will have to be published before any change is effected. For public and academic marine science and environmental collections.