Waubonsee Community College

The unnatural history of the sea, Callum Roberts

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

The unnatural history of the sea

bibliography

80019884

Callum Roberts

"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 15th 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."--Jacket

pt. I. Explorers and Exploiters in the Age of Plenty: The end of innocence ; The origins of intensive fishing ; Newfound lands ; More fish than water ; Plunder of the Caribbean ; The age of merchant adventures ; Whaling : the first global industry ; To the ends of the Earth for seals ; The great fisheries of Europe ; The first trawling revolution ; The dawn of industrial fishing -- pt. II. The Modern Era of Industrial Fishing: The inexhaustible sea ; The legacy of whaling ; Emptying European seas ; The downfall of king cod ; Slow death of an estuary: Chesapeake Bay ; The collapse of coral ; Shifting baselines ; Ghost habitats ; Hunting on the high plains of the open sea ; Violating the last great wilderness -- pt. III. The Once and Future Ocean: No place left to hide ; Barbequed jellyfish or swordfish steak? ; Reinventing fishery management ; The return of abundance ; The future of fish