Book description
Will most of the major fisheries of the world be exhausted by 2048,
as has been claimed? Have the number of large fish in the ocean
decreased by 90 per cent over the past 50 years, as has been asserted
by a respected scientist? Are 60 per cent of the fish species studied
by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation either fully
exploited or depleted, as one of their reports attests? Fishing at
sea, an ancient trade and a way of life that has defined coastal towns
throughout history, may be coming to an end. The culture and
traditions of coastal Britain and of seagoing nations everywhere are
now threatened with extinction.
In his most important book yet, Mark Kurlansky - the celebrated
author of Cod, Salt and The Big Oyster - explores
the fate of our oceans and the decline of our most ancient coastal
enterprise. The Last Fish Tale sends up a timely distress flare
but one which brilliantly illuminates a colourful, exuberant and
poignant landscape, from Newlyn in Cornwall to Gloucester in
Massachusetts - a fishing village first settled by Englishmen in the
early 1600s. The result is a cultural, economic, environmental and
culinary bouillabaisse - the most compelling fish tale of our time.
Mark Kurlansky is the author of several bestselling non-fiction
titles including
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
(winner of the Glenfiddich Best Food Book Award),
The Basque History
of the World
,
Salt: A World History
,
1968: The Year that Rocked the World
, a short story collection
The White Man in the Tree
and a novel,
Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue.
