Synopses & Reviews
In the last few decades, humankinda (TM)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 childrena (TM)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 wea (TM)ve reduced the natural variety of fish we consume to just four species: bass, cod, salmon, and tunaa 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 Alaskaa (TM)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.
Synopsis
Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. 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 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 investigating where each stands at this critical moment in time. He visits Norwegian megafarms 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 makes clear how 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 types of fish--bass, cod, salmon, and tuna--exposes a critical moment in our relationship with the truly last wild food we consume.