A community newspaper for the people of Arran, Est. 2007
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The Unnatural History of the Sea

Howard Wood reviews 'The Unnatural History of Fishing: The Past and Future of Humanity and Fishing' by Professor Callum Roberts.
IMAGE: The Unnatural History of the Sea, by Professor Calum Roberts. Written by Howard Wood
Friday, 7 December 2007

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Some scientists predict that fisheries for all the species we exploit today will have collapsed completely by 2050 — in which case it will be goodbye to cod and everything else. Hello, jellyfish for tea! In this unappetising scenario, we'll be left wondering, 'Where did the fish go?' Callum Roberts answers that question in his fascinating historical account of commercial fishing .

He explains that to begin with, there were so many fish in rivers that man only caught freshwater fish but then, as rivers were dammed and access for spawning fish was blocked, fishers turned to the sea for supplies and have never looked back. As technology developed, commercial sea fishing spread from estuaries to coasts, then to the high seas and finally to the deep oceans, causing profound changes to marine life. Graphic accounts written over hundreds of years by explorers and fishermen in diaries and articles give wonderful descriptions of a sea teeming with life so abundant that it almost beggars belief.

Time and time again there were warnings that stocks could be over-fished, but despite evidence that this was true, the lessons were never learned - it was always assumed that there were plenty more fish in the sea. One reason for man's incredible blindness to the consequences of his actions is what Callum Roberts calls “shifting baselines” — the fact that the fishermen of any one generation, together with scientists and governments, only compare the present state of the sea to what they already know. They fail to see the bigger picture.

The roots of modern over-fishing can be found in ...

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Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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