The Unnatural History of the Sea

By Callum Roberts

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597265772
• ISBN13: 9781597265775
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Shearwater Books
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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 spawn

Food and profit from the sea...past, present, and future(?)

Callum Roberts has crafted an excellent overview of the history of human exploitation of the sea. The title chosen for the book is excellent. If it were titled "The Natural History of the Sea" you could expect to read about marine bio-diversity, and how marine species interact with each other. The title, "The Unnatural History of the Sea," however, is a good indicator of the content of the book. The book is divided into three main sections. Section one introduces the reader to the history of human exploitation of the sea for food and profit. That overview includes references to historical documents that give insight into the diversity and densities of marine species. It includes chapters on what happened in European waters, the lure of largely unexploited fishing grounds in the new world, and the development of the global commercial fisheries for groups including cod, whales, and seals, as well as the advent of industrialized fishing. Section two of the book is titled "The Modern Era of Fishing." In this section you are provided with example after example of the pattern of overharvesting, moving to new fishing grounds, and the subsequent development and application of new fishing technologies. This section details decimated fisheries, fish population crashes, the decline of coral reefs, and the ongoing rush to capture all we can while there is still something left to fish. Finally, the third section of the book presents an overview of current fisheries policies, and a proposal for a new direction that could save global fisheries. The book deserves and demands to be read by anyone interested in the sea, as well as by those involved in developing and implementing fisheries policies. By the way, if you are like me, you will be hooked by the first story in the first chapter...it tells about of the discovery and subsequent demise of the Stellar Sea Cow, a large, docile marine mammal that once lived along the northern Pacific coast of North America. Sadly, that mammal didn't survive more than a few decades after its discovery. Get a copy of the book and find out why. I look forward to introducing this book to my marine biology and ichthyology students! Five stars all the way!

Firsthand experiences of early explorers, pirates, fisherman and travelers alike

The sea hosts an amazing array of animals, yet is relatively empty compared to oceans of the past. Scientist Gallum Roberts reveals a history of the sea and charts the disappearance of this marine life in an expose perfect for either college-level libraries strong in marine science or general-interest collections with patrons who enjoy science. This history reveals the roots of a fishing industry that began in the 11th century in medieval Europe, considering how the history of commercial fishing has coincided with the changes of sea life. Firsthand experiences of early explorers, pirates, fisherman and travelers alike are paired with black and white illustrations peppered throughout to trace the demise of marine life in a colorful, lively historical survey. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch