Book description
In the spring of 2007, National Geographic warned, "The oceans
are in deep blue trouble. From the northernmost reaches of the
Greenland Sea to the swirl of the Antarctic Circle, we are gutting our
seas of fish." There were legitimate grounds for concern. After
increasing more than fourfold between 1950 and 1994, the global wild
fish catch reached a plateau and stagnated despite exponential growth
in the fishing industry. As numerous scientific reports showed, many
fish stocks around the world collapsed, creating a genuine global
overfishing crisis.
Making Seafood Sustainable analyzes the ramifications of
overfishing for the United States by investigating how fishers,
seafood processors, retailers, government officials, and others have
worked together to respond to the crisis. Historian Mansel G.
Blackford examines how these players took steps to make fishing in
some American waters, especially in Alaskan waters, sustainable.
Critical to these efforts, Blackford argues, has been government and
industry collaboration in formulating and enforcing regulations. What
can be learned from these successful experiences? Are they applicable
elsewhere? What are the drawbacks? Making Seafood Sustainable
addresses these questions and suggests that sustainable seafood
management can be made to work. The economic and social costs incurred
in achieving sustainable resource usage are significant, but there are
ways to mitigate them. More broadly, this study illustrates ways to
manage commonly held natural resources around the world-land, water,
oil, and so on-in sustainable ways.
"Intelligent, provocative, and well researched, with
delightful writing throughout. Blackford has a grasp on the ways in
which global developments manifest themselves in American fisheries on
a number of different levels: economic, environmental, cultural, and
political. Indeed, Blackford demonstrates that all of these local
manifestations of globalization are connected to each
other."-Arthur F. McEvoy, Southwestern Law School
Mansel G. Blackford is Professor Emeritus of History at the Ohio
State University and author of several books, including The Rise of
Modern Business: Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, and
China and Pathways to the Present: U. S. Development and Its
Consequences in the Pacific.
