Synopses & Reviews
The history of four fish — bass, cod, salmon, and tuna — exposes a critical moment in our relationship with the truly last wild food we consume.
In the last few decades, humankind's relationship with the ocean has undergone a remarkable change. The environmental impact of commercial fishing and the advent of extensive fish farming have led to grave and widespread concerns about the uncertain future of wild fish. We are on the precipice of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the ocean. Are we on the brink of fishing every edible species of fish into extinction? And if so, how can we prevent such a disaster?
Paul Greenberg, a journalist who writes regularly for The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic, fears that we've reduced the natural variety of fish we consume to just four species: bass, cod, salmon, and tuna — and that, as a result of this lack of imagination coupled with an insatiable thirst for protein, we are dangerously overfishing every one of them. In Four Fish, he deftly uses these fish as a lens to provide a state of the ocean; traveling the world from Alaska's wild salmon runs to the massive fish farms of Vietnam, he explores the history of these four species as he examines where each stands at this critical moment in time.
In Four Fish, Greenberg seeks to determine whether we can bring these four beloved fish back from the edge of extinction. His conclusion? With government intervention, proper management, and above all, public awareness about the fish on our plate, there is hope yet that our troubled relationship with the ocean and the fish we find in it can be mended.
Review
"Hugely informative, sincere and infectiously curious and enthusiastic." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Synopsis
Acclaimed author of American Catch and The Omega Princple and life-long fisherman, Paul Greenberg takes us on a journey, examining the four fish that dominate our menus: salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna.
Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Whereas just three decades ago nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild, rampant overfishing combined with an unprecedented bio-tech revolution has brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea.
In Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus---salmon, sea bass, cod and tuna-and examining where each stands at this critical moment in time. He visits Norwegian mega farms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He travels to the ancestral river of the Yupik Eskimos to see the only Fair Trade certified fishing company in the world. He investigates the way PCBs and mercury find their way into seafood; discovers how Mediterranean sea bass went global; Challenges the author of Cod to taste the difference between a farmed and a wild cod; and almost sinks to the bottom of the South Pacific while searching for an alternative to endangered bluefin tuna.
Fish, Greenberg reveals, are the last truly wild food - for now. By examining the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.
Synopsis
The history of four fish — bass, cod, salmon, and tuna — exposes a critical moment in our relationship with the truly last wild food we consume.
Synopsis
Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Whereas just three decades ago nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild, rampant overfishing combined with an unprecedented bio-tech revolution has brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea. In
Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus---salmon, sea bass, cod and tuna-and examining where each stands at this critical moment in time. He visits Norwegian mega farms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He travels to the ancestral river of the Yupik Eskimos to see the only Fair Trade certified fishing company in the world. He investigates the way PCBs and mercury find their way into seafood; discovers how Mediterranean sea bass went global; Challenges the author of Cod to taste the difference between a farmed and a wild cod; and almost sinks to the bottom of the South Pacific while searching for an alternative to endangered bluefin tuna. Fish, Greenberg reveals, are the last truly wild food - for now. By examining the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.
Synopsis
"A necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why." -Sam Sifton, The New York Times Book Review. Writer and life-long fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a journey, examining the four fish that dominate our menus: salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. Investigating the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, Greenberg reveals our damaged relationship with the ocean and its inhabitants. Just three decades ago, nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild. Today, rampant overfishing and an unprecedented biotech revolution have brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex marketplace. Four Fish offers a way for us to move toward a future in which healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.
Synopsis
Our species is more profoundly connected to the sea than we ever realized, as an intrepid cadre of scientists, athletes, and explorers is now discovering. Deep follows these adventurers into the ocean to report on the latest findings about its wondrous biology and#8212; and unimagined human abilities.
Synopsis
The deep sea remains Earthand#8217;s final frontier. And as James Nestor reveals, adventurous scientistsand#8217; current quests to solve the mysteries of the ocean are transforming not only our knowledge of the planet and its creatures, but also our understanding of the human body and mind. Over the course of the book, Nestor journeys from the oceanand#8217;s surface and#8212; where the extreme sport of freediving pushes the boundaries of human physical endurance and#8212; to its greatest, most otherworldly depth, 35,000 feet below sea level at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Along the way he finds and#8220;telepathicand#8221; corals that synchronize their blooming even though theyand#8217;re hundreds of miles apart, octopus species that thrive in 300-degree water, sharks that swim in unerringly straight lines through pitch blackness, and, most illuminating of all, the human pioneers whose discoveries are expanding our definition of what is possible in the natural world, and in ourselves.
About the Author
Paul Greenberg has been fishing since childhood, and writing for the
New York Times, National Geographic, and
GQ since adulthood. In 2005, his
New York Times Magazine article on Chilean Sea Bass received the International Association of Culinary Professionals' award for excellence in food journalism. Greenberg has also received both a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and a Food and Society Policy Fellowship.
Greenberg lives in Manhattan, New York, speaks Russian and French, and most recently went fishing off the Connecticut coast with his daughter this summer.
Table of Contents
0and#160;|and#160;1
and#160;and#8722;60and#160;|and#160;12
and#160;and#8722;300and#160;|and#160;27
and#160;and#8722;650and#160;|and#160;54
and#160;and#8722;800and#160;|and#160;81
and#160;and#8722;1,000and#160;|and#160;100
and#160;and#8722;2,500and#160;|and#160;126
and#160;and#8722;10,000and#160;|and#160;159
and#160;and#8722;28,700and#160;|and#160;201
and#160;Ascentsand#160;|and#160;222
and#160;Epilogueand#160;|and#160;228
and#160;Acknowledgmentsand#160;|and#160;234
and#160;Notesand#160;|and#160;239
and#160;Bibliographyand#160;|and#160;247
and#160;Indexand#160;|and#160;257