The Unnatural History of the Sea | Callum Roberts

The Unnatural History of the Sea | Callum Roberts | Eye-opening illustration of fisheries

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The Unnatural Hist...

	The Unnatural History of the Sea Callum Roberts Island Press, 2007 - 456 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Humanity can make short work of the oceans? creatures. In 1741, hungry explorers discovered herds of Steller?s sea cow in the Bering Strait, and in less than thirty years, the amiable beast had been harpooned into extinction. It?s a classic story, but a key fact is often omitted. Bering Island was the last redoubt of a species that had been decimated by hunting and habitat loss years before the
explorers set sail. As Callum M. Roberts reveals in The Unnatural History of the Sea, the oceans? bounty didn?t disappear overnight. While today?s fishing industry is ruthlessly efficient, intense exploitation began not in the modern era, or even with the dawn of industrialization, but in the eleventh century in medieval Europe. Roberts explores this long and colorful history of commercial fishing, taking readers around the world and through the centuries to witness the transformation of the seas.
Drawing on firsthand accounts of early explorers, pirates, merchants, fishers, and travelers, the book recreates the oceans of the past: waters teeming with whales, sea lions, sea otters, turtles, and giant fish. The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth century seafarers is almost unimaginable today, but Roberts both brings it alive and artfully traces its depletion. Collapsing fisheries, he shows, are simply the latest chapter in a long history of unfettered commercialization of the seas. The story does not end with an empty ocean. Instead, Roberts describes how we might restore the splendor and prosperity of the seas through smarter management of our resources and some simple restraint. From the coasts of Florida to New Zealand, marine reserves have fostered spectacular recovery of plants and animals to levels not seen in a century. They prove that history need not repeat itself: we can leave the oceans richer than we found them. (20070916)

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Disappearing act

The problem with the oceans is that you can't see what's going on down there. Foresters can count trees, birdwatchers have "life lists", but fishery managers can only weigh a catch and guesstimate the numbers. That's the fish that are landed - those and other life caught in nets or hooks disappear uncounted and unreported. "Counting" fish has been a problem since ancient times and the sea has remained a realm of mystery right up to the present. Ironically, as Callum Roberts points out in this informative study, it's those who have harvested sea life - often in immeasurable quantities, who have helped reveal something of what goes on beneath the waves.

Roberts understands the need for fishers. Sea life is a substantial form of protein, particularly when land animals are expensive or unattainable. Men have fished from shore, from coast-hugging boats and from ships drawing a wide variety of gear through the water seeking dinner for demanding thousands. Anyone casting into the nearest river or lake will describe fish as "fickle", unresponsive to the most adroitly placed lure. Ocean fishers, however, trailing extended nets or other gear have the same complaint for other reasons. Where have the fish gone? Roberts points out that human fishing of the seas has undergone three revolutions - trawl nets in the 14th Century, steam power, and deep ocean fishing in the 20th Century. Each of these revolutions was a step in finding the missing fish. Each has proven a way to exhaust the ocean's bounty in a short time. The fish have disappeared.

As he tours through time and place, the author portrays the greed and unreflecting view of fishers, government and even science. There's a great irony in this story in the person of Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin's champion in expanding recognition of the theory of natural selection. Huxley, in a British government enquiry into how "beam trawls" affected fishing, firmly declared that stirring up the bottom with weighted nets actually brought up nutrients for the fish. Their numbers would increase from the practice, not diminish! Such was the state of knowledge of the seas only a century and a half past. Knowledge has improved but little in the ensuing time period, and what has been learned has been even more detrimental to the fish. Powerful ships, huge, heavy nets and sonar have given fishers valuable tools in locating shoals. Yet, the number of fish available is clearly diminishing. Why is that?

The chief reason is failure to understand the ecology of the seas. Counting catch methods tend to focus on single, usually prime species. The effect of removing large numbers of these is too poorly known. It has long been assumed that removing the larger individuals allows more opportunity for the younger fish to feed and breed. Is that a valid belief? In Canada, over a decade after a "moratorium" on cod fishing, the stocks have not recovered. One reason seems to be that older fish, knowing the spawning sites for their group - and each site apparently has its own group - aren't there to show the youngsters the way. Other fisheries have depleted the cod's prey species, keeping the existing fish small and resource deprived. Similar circumstances occur in other locations. The dredging of sea bottoms has turned food chain foundations into oceanic deserts. This seems particularly true around seamounts, which Roberts terms "refuelling stops" for large predator species such as tuna. In effect, present fishing methods are eliminating parts of the food chain - from bottom-feeders to the very top - which includes this reviewer and his readers, you. Modern fishing techniques also produce immense amount of "bycatch", undesired species, along with other animals such as turtles and sea birds such as the albatross. Are there solutions to prevent the elimination of many forms of ocean life and restore those links in the food chain?

Roberts' last three chapters deserve the closest study by fishers, international agencies and everybody who eats fish. The numbers he presents are appalling: three-tenths of one per cent of fish stocks estimated for only a couple of centuries ago. Species counts list one "collapse" after another, and bottom trawling has decimated huge areas. There is, however, a cure in the offing. Diving in various areas, the author has seen what can be accomplished by ocean reserves. Originally founded in some cases by researchers experimenting in selected sites, these areas were banned for fishing, in some cases actually fenced off to intruders. The rebounding of stocks, plus the time granted them to grow to substantial size, shows how effective the reserve can be. Projecting from some suggested proposals, Roberts concludes that ocean reserves be established over 30% or more of the seas. That preserved area, in collaboration with seven proposals for new fisheries management could lead to a fully sustainable recovery of fish stocks. It's a formula that requires immediate attention and implementation. Is your government strong enough to assist in this seas-saving project? [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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Eye-opening illustration of fisheries

This is an eye-opening, informative look at the history of the world's fisheries throughout time. From early fisheries in Europe, to the discovery of virgin seas around the world, this book gives a detailed and interesting look at fishing practices including long line fishing, trapping, and trawling. The startling decline of the world's fisheries is discussed with much detail including many examples which were somewhat repetitive. The author also gives hope of reestablishing healthy fisheries by citing many recent changes in nation's policies regarding fishing. This is a well written book that reflects the author's efforts and research. It was written to educate people on the conditions of the oceans. The author also gives a refreshing look at conservation by not simply criticizing the state of the oceans, but by providing a plan that may help reverse the effects of hundreds of years of over-fishing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in gaining a greater understanding of the history of the world's fisheries.

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Most comprehensive view on the state of our seas I've ever read

This review refers to the paperback version, 2007, Gaia thinking.

The author builds a very extensive window on the condition of all marine life over the past 1000 years. His research is based on ancient texts, skipper logbooks, diaries of explorers and in more recent times more comprehensive fishery data and scientific articles. The book is full with citations from all these sources which give the reader a close look on the experiences of those who where amazed by the marine life.

The bounty he describes in the seas from the past are at times hard to imagine. Sturgeons as big as cows in European rivers, fish shoals who push the river water upwards, uncountable numbers of whales in their breeding bay in California. Although it is clear that the author is passionate about marine life, he presents the facts without bias and the book has an extensive reference list at the end.

The book focusses on the central theme of over-fishing and its detrimental impact on the state of all marine life. As the book advances (into time) fishing effort increases and marine life gradually deteriorates. Reading chapter after chapter makes you sad, helpless and angry to see in what dire state we pushed all the seas of the world.

However, the book ends with three fairly brief chapters to restore the balance. The changes in fishery management that the author proposes are quiet surprising but on the same time elegant and more reasonable to achieve compared to current practices. The final chapter is a documented call for extensive world marine reserves. The abundance he describes in some present day reserves is fuelling hope for better times.

If you love the sea, if you love fish or fishing, please read this book.

Only minor point is fairly few pictures in the book, although the old photographs with huge fish caught make up for most of it.

Read it, be shocked and spread the word, so we can fix what was broken.

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Worth the time.

Too good. Eye opening. Easy to read. It will be kept in my library for references. I learned so much about our oceans and mankind.

Impressive, comprehensive but DRY

This is a MUST READ if you are interested in the ocean environment. This book is staggeringly comprehensive in its coverage of the many centuries of fishing as they developed and how they resulted in the ocean destruction that exists today.

Unfortunately it was, to me, so verrrryyyy dry that I really had to work hard to finish. If you like endless excerpts from the old salts journals (with old language styles and the accompanying mispellings), you may have a more favorable reaction.

The facts and statistics of over-fishing will blow you away! It should serve as a clarion call for us to get busy and take measures to focus some attention on this critical ocean world.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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