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The unnatural history of the sea

Posted on 3 December 2007

While today’s fishing industry is ruthlessly efficient, intense exploitation of the seas began not in the modern era, nor even with the dawn of industrialisation, but in the eleventh century in medieval Europe. This long and colourful history of commercial fishing and hunting is explored by Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, in his book The Unnatural History of the Sea: The Past and Future of Humanity and Fishing.

Aberdeen fish market c.1903

Drawing on firsthand accounts of early explorers, pirates, merchants, fishers, and travellers, the book recreates the oceans of the past: waters teeming with whales, sea lions, sea otters, turtles, and giant fish. The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth century seafarers is almost unimaginable today, but Roberts both brings it alive and artfully traces its depletion. Collapsing fisheries, he shows, are simply the latest chapter in a long history of unfettered commercialisation of the seas.

The story does not end with an empty ocean. Instead, Roberts describes how we might restore the splendour and prosperity of the seas through smarter management of our resources and some simple restraint. From the coasts of Florida to New Zealand, marine reserves have fostered spectacular recovery of plants and animals to levels not seen in a century. They prove that history need not repeat itself: we can leave the oceans richer than we found them.

The Unnatural History of the Sea: The Past and Future of Humanity and Fishing was published by Gaia Books in August 2007. The Washington Post picked the book as one of their ten best books of 2007.

About the researcher

Professor Callum Roberts

 

Callum Roberts is a Professor in the Environment Department

Contact

Email: cr10@york.ac.uk

Further information

 

Interview

Listen to Professor Callum Roberts talk about his book

Transript | MP3 download

Buy the book

Unnatural History of the Sea book cover

Buy The Unnatural History of the Sea: The past and future of humanity and fishing

(Amazon.co.uk)