April 2009
The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat
By Charles CloverCharles Clover takes direct aim at global overfishing in his new book, The End of the Line. Mr. Clover highlights a startling statistic: 90 percent of the ocean's large fish have disappeared over the past half a century. What happened to them? Who took them?
In telling us the answers, Mr. Clover, a British journalist, doesn't pull his punches. Mr. Clover points at corporations, comfy scientists and timid politicians. He finds all complicit in a history of human failure and self-interest that continues to allow overfishing of the world's oceans.
As his fish tale unfolds, Mr. Clover reveals the multiple forces driving the world's desirable fish species to extinction. Mr. Clover takes readers to the world's largest fish market in Japan and aboard boats with the latest, greatest fish finding equipment – the fish don't stand a chance.
In this jam-packed book, Mr. Clover likes to spread around the blame. Canada doesn't escape unscathed. Mr. Clover highlights at length the failure of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in the collapse of the East Coast cod stocks. Over in Europe, Mr. Clover shines a light on oversized British and Spanish fishing fleets and institutionalized poaching. Mr. Clover even pokes a finger at celebrity chefs for creating recipes from endangered creatures like Patagonian toothfish (known as Chilean Sea Bass) and bluefin tuna. Surprisingly, McDonald's Filet-O-Fish gets the stamp of approval!
But McDonald's is a rare bright spot in an international race to capture too many fish, too fast. This is a world of high-stakes, big-money skullduggery. It's stunning and alarming. What's needed among other things, writes Mr. Clover, is a series of marine reserves to protect big fish like tuna and swordfish on the high seas. In intensively fished areas, Mr. Clover suggests 50 percent of the sea should be set aside in reserves.
But with short-term thinkers in power is this realistic? Will human beings ever stop overfishing? Will we be able to restrain ourselves enough to save the seas?
Read The End of the Line and judge for yourself.
Or see the recently-released movie! Check this website for screenings: You can also claim your two hectares of ocean – it's symbolic, but a growing number of voices around the world could help save the seas. Thanks!
