The mortal sea : fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail / W. Jeffrey Bolster.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bolster, W. Jeffrey.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fisheries--North Atlantic Ocean--History.

Fisheries.

Fishers--North Atlantic Ocean--History.

Fishers.

Fishery management--North Atlantic Ocean--History.

Fishery management.

Marine biodiversity--North Atlantic Ocean--History.

Marine biodiversity.

Atlantic Coast (New England)--History.

Atlantic Coast (New England).

Atlantic Coast (Canada)--History.

Atlantic Coast (Canada).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 378 p., [20] p. of plates ) ill., maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since the Viking ascendancy in the Middle Ages, the Atlantic has shaped the lives of people who depend upon it for survival. And just as surely, people have shaped the Atlantic. In his innovative account of this interdependency, W. Jeffrey Bolster, a historian and professional seafarer, takes us through a millennium-long environmental history of our impact on one of the largest ecosystems in the world. While overfishing is often thought of as a contemporary problem, Bolster reveals that humans were transforming the sea long before factory trawlers turned fishing from a handliner's art into an industrial enterprise. The western Atlantic's legendary fishing banks, stretching from Cape Cod to Newfoundland, have attracted fishermen for more than five hundred years. Bolster follows the effects of this siren's song from its medieval European origins to the advent of industrialized fishing in American waters at the beginning of the twentieth century. Blending marine biology, ecological insight, and a remarkable cast of characters, from notable explorers to scientists to an army of unknown fishermen, Bolster tells a story that is both ecological and human: the prelude to an environmental disaster. Over generations, harvesters created a quiet catastrophe as the sea could no longer renew itself. Bolster writes in the hope that the intimate relationship humans have long had with the ocean, and the species that live within it, can be restored for future generations.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Prologue: The Historic Ocean

One: Depleted European Seas and the Discovery of America

Two: Plucking the Low-Hanging Fruit

Three: The Sea Serpent and the Mackerel Jig

Four: Making the Case for Caution

Five: Waves in a Troubled Sea

Six: An Avalanche of Cheap Fish

Epilogue: Changes in the Sea

APPENDIX

NOTES

GLOSSARY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Notes:

Formerly CIP.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [291]-333) and index.

ISBN:

9780674070462

0674070461

9780674067219

0674067215

OCLC:

1013955682