World without Fish

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Mark Kurlansky is a former commercial fisherman and New York Times bestselling author of Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster, and other books. He’s won numerous awards, including the James A. Beard Award, ALA Notable Book Award, and New York Public Library Best Books of the Year Award.

His new book, World without Fish, was originally written for kids to tell them about what’s happening to fish, the oceans, and our environment, and what they can do about it. But it’s a great book for adults, too, because World Without Fish clarifies the biology, economics, evolution, politics, climate, history, culture, food, and nutrition of fish. It describes how the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod, and swordfish, could disappear within 50 years, and the domino effect it would have—oceans teeming with jellyfish and turning pinkish orange from algal blooms; seabirds disappearing, then reptiles, then mammals. It describes the back-and-forth dynamic of fishermen and scientists. It covers the effects of industrialized fishing, and how bottom-dragging nets are turning the ocean floor into a desert.

The answer? Support sustainable fishing. World Without Fish tells us exactly what we can do.