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Ocean of Life
A Silent Spring for oceans, written by "the Rachel Carson of the fish world" ( The New York Times ) Who can forget the sense of wonder with which they discovered the creatures of the deep? In this vibrant hymn to the sea, Callum Roberts—one of the world’s foremost conservation biologists—leads readers on a fascinating tour of mankind’s relationship to the sea, from the earliest traces of water on earth to the oceans as we know them today. In the process, Roberts looks at how the taming of the oceans has shaped human civilization and affected marine life. We have always been fish eaters, from the dawn of civilization, but in the last twenty years we have transformed the oceans beyond recognition. Putting our exploitation of the seas into historical context, Roberts offers a devastating account of the impact of modern fishing techniques, pollution, and climate change, and reveals what it would take to steer the right course while there is still time. Like Four Fish and The Omnivore’s Dilemma , The Ocean of Life takes a long view to tell a story in which each one of us has a role to play.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 24, 2012
180 people are currently reading
3226 people want to read
About the author
Callum Roberts
12books56followersRecently named in the Times as one of the 100 most influential UK scientists, Prof Callum Roberts is an award-winning expert on Marine Conservation.
His main research interests include documenting the impacts of fishing on marine life, both historic and modern, and exploring the effectiveness of marine protected areas. For the last 10 years he has used his science background to make the case for stronger protection for marine life at both national and international levels. His award winning book, The Unnatural History of the Sea, charts the effects of 1000 years of exploitation on ocean life.
He lectures throughout the US, UK and Europe, and is frequently called on to give government briefings to the US Congress and Senate, as well as Whitehall.
Callum is a WWF UK Ambassador, trustee of Seaweb, Fauna and Flora International and Blue Marine Foundation, and advisor to Save our Seas.
His main research interests include documenting the impacts of fishing on marine life, both historic and modern, and exploring the effectiveness of marine protected areas. For the last 10 years he has used his science background to make the case for stronger protection for marine life at both national and international levels. His award winning book, The Unnatural History of the Sea, charts the effects of 1000 years of exploitation on ocean life.
He lectures throughout the US, UK and Europe, and is frequently called on to give government briefings to the US Congress and Senate, as well as Whitehall.
Callum is a WWF UK Ambassador, trustee of Seaweb, Fauna and Flora International and Blue Marine Foundation, and advisor to Save our Seas.
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February 8, 2018
Roberts shows us just how dramatic the changes to sea life have been in the last century. Overfishing and destructive wasteful fishing methods combined with climate change and pollution have greatly reduced the abundance of marine life at a time when a rapidly growing world population needs these resources more than ever. The fishing industry’s answer has been ever more exploitive methods as yields decline. There are organizations and governments taking measures to save ocean life, but these efforts so far are inadequate to stop the destruction of the planet’s marine ecosystem. Roberts, despite painting a grim picture, claims he is an optimist and weighs in with his own ideas of what can be done.
After WWII fishing methods became extremely efficient: Long lines with thousands of hooks that can stretch ten miles as large powerful ships pulled them through the seas; huge nets big enough to engulf cathedrals; bigger dredges that scrape the bottom clean in more and deeper places; echo sounders later augmented by computers and satellites that take boats straight to the fish. These methods also greatly increase the waste as unwanted fish, turtles and other sea animals are tossed back into the sea dead. Not surprisingly, within a few decades while the ability to catch fish improved exponentially, the number of fish available sharply declined. The initial answer was to move to new unexploited areas exhausting them one by one. Ever increasing fishing power is being applied to fewer and fewer fish.
Pollution adds to the problem. As bad as the Deep Horizon oil rig disaster and other oil spills have been, two-thirds of oil entering the ocean comes from runoff from land. Along with improperly disposed of oil, comes mercury from coal fired utilities, other heavy metals, PCB’s, BFR’s, and other toxic chemicals. It is estimated that 40% of the mercury in Americans comes from tuna. Then there is just plain garbage, particularly plastics. Currents continually dump garbage on beaches but much of it ends in what amount to rotating graveyards formed by gyres in remote ocean regions. These can be huge. One, known as the Great Eastern Garbage Patch, in the Pacific is about the size of Texas. Plastics are particularly insidious. Whales, turtles, albatrosses and many other animals regularly ingest plastic objects. Small pieces of plastic not readily seen are widely scattered in the ocean including nurdles, small pellets used to manufacture plastic items, and microplastics used in cosmetics.
Another form of pollution is noise. Sound travels much farther and faster in water than air. Sounds from human activity have increased markedly in the last century and while a supertanker passing can be deafening there is worse. Sounding equipment used extensively in oil exploration tests the ocean floor with high energy seismic bangs. Naval sonar can reach 235 decibels (a rock concert hits 110 decibels). Recently I noticed a US Navy plan to build a fleet of trimaran drone boats called Sea Hunter to patrol the oceans for submarines. Such load noises interfere with many animals� ability to navigate, hear predators, or communicate and the damage can be permanent. This particularly affects whales and dolphins which communicate over long distances and use echolocation to find food.
Climate Change also bodes ill for ocean life. Melting Arctic ice does more than threaten local species; it alters salinity which has the potential to affect ocean currents further disrupting ecosystems. Plus oceans warm far more near the surface increasing the disparity of densities between surface and deep waters. This restricts the transfer of nutrients from deep water to the surface and oxygen from surface water to deep. This will exacerbate already expanding oxygen deprived deep water dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico caused by farmland fertilizer runoff carried by the Mississippi River. The Chesapeake Bay suffers from the same cause and enclosed seas like the Baltic, Black and Adriatic have developed large dead zones.
Warming waters are already killing coral by disrupting a vital symbiotic relationship in a process called bleaching. Coral reefs support a vibrant diversity of sea creatures which will disappear with the coral. Coral reefs also serve as natural break waters protecting vulnerable beaches as ocean levels rise. Where they have failed, erosion has increased. Coastlines are increasingly vulnerable as wetlands and mangrove forests are replaced by development of everything from home sites to shrimp ponds creating the need for dykes and concrete barriers.
As we pour carbon into the air, carbon dioxide is absorbed by the sea. This acidifies the ocean which interferes with forming skeletons and shells adversely affecting coral, crustaceans, mollusks, many types of plankton, and a wide range of other sea animals and plants. While in the past life has adjusted to and rebounded from carbon dioxide increases from natural causes, it has taken many thousands of years. Manmade climate change is proceeding far quicker than evolution.
The fifth horseman of the biodiversity apocalypse is invasive species; the other four being loss of habitat, pollution, climate change and overfishing/hunting. With unprecedented movement around the globe, foreign invaders are everywhere. One example is the red lionfish, an aggressive predator and a Pacific Ocean native found in many aquariums. Somehow ending up off the coast of Florida it quickly spread to coral reefs throughout the Caribbean where with no enemies it flourished blithely eating its way through a wide variety of unaware native species. There are countless other examples.
The modern day rapid destruction of species has been dubbed the sixth extinction. We understand little about the interconnectedness of life and the magnitude of the risk of removing so many links from the chain, a chain we too are dependent on. The author quotes John Muir, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it connected to the rest of the world.�
One answer to declining catches is aquaculture. Today over 400 species are farmed, predominately shellfish, which feed themselves. But fish like Salmon are fed wild fish further depleting ocean stock. Most land animals we eat are vegetarians, but most fish we like are predators. For each pound of farmed fish produced it can take several pounds of wild fish. Bluefin tuna can eat 20 pounds for each pound harvested. Farmed fish are usually treated with antibiotics, pesticides and fungicides due to their high concentration. Most Salmon are raised in pens open to the sea where their diseases and parasites spread to the wild. Pollution from high concentrations of farmed fish has overtaken bays in China, the Philippines and even Scotland. There are responsible ways to manage fish farms but they eat into profits.
Roberts proposes specific ways to improve aquaculture as well as ways to prevent pollution and stem climate change. Mostly his suggestions are common sense and not particularly new. What is missing is a widespread sense of urgency. He believes strongly in marine reserves to replenish stocks and restore diversity followed by international agreements to limit catch sizes. Essentially the idea is to manage ocean fish like one would farm stock, only taking what can be reliably produced. Small efforts have been made but do not approach a meaningful scale. Such efforts are usually opposed by the fishing industry which seems to always place short term profit ahead of long term viability.
Roberts goes into detail about the processes mentioned here. He is a scientist but his writing is very accessible to the layman. He is also a naturalist and conservationist working to preserve the beauty and balance of the marine ecosystem as well as ensure it is a reliable source of food for an expanding world population. But as nations compete to get every last fish will we have the political will to take his advice? Roberts uses a quote of E. O. Wilson to sum up the challenge. “We have Paleolithic emotions, Middle Age institutions, and God-like technologies.�
After WWII fishing methods became extremely efficient: Long lines with thousands of hooks that can stretch ten miles as large powerful ships pulled them through the seas; huge nets big enough to engulf cathedrals; bigger dredges that scrape the bottom clean in more and deeper places; echo sounders later augmented by computers and satellites that take boats straight to the fish. These methods also greatly increase the waste as unwanted fish, turtles and other sea animals are tossed back into the sea dead. Not surprisingly, within a few decades while the ability to catch fish improved exponentially, the number of fish available sharply declined. The initial answer was to move to new unexploited areas exhausting them one by one. Ever increasing fishing power is being applied to fewer and fewer fish.
Pollution adds to the problem. As bad as the Deep Horizon oil rig disaster and other oil spills have been, two-thirds of oil entering the ocean comes from runoff from land. Along with improperly disposed of oil, comes mercury from coal fired utilities, other heavy metals, PCB’s, BFR’s, and other toxic chemicals. It is estimated that 40% of the mercury in Americans comes from tuna. Then there is just plain garbage, particularly plastics. Currents continually dump garbage on beaches but much of it ends in what amount to rotating graveyards formed by gyres in remote ocean regions. These can be huge. One, known as the Great Eastern Garbage Patch, in the Pacific is about the size of Texas. Plastics are particularly insidious. Whales, turtles, albatrosses and many other animals regularly ingest plastic objects. Small pieces of plastic not readily seen are widely scattered in the ocean including nurdles, small pellets used to manufacture plastic items, and microplastics used in cosmetics.
Another form of pollution is noise. Sound travels much farther and faster in water than air. Sounds from human activity have increased markedly in the last century and while a supertanker passing can be deafening there is worse. Sounding equipment used extensively in oil exploration tests the ocean floor with high energy seismic bangs. Naval sonar can reach 235 decibels (a rock concert hits 110 decibels). Recently I noticed a US Navy plan to build a fleet of trimaran drone boats called Sea Hunter to patrol the oceans for submarines. Such load noises interfere with many animals� ability to navigate, hear predators, or communicate and the damage can be permanent. This particularly affects whales and dolphins which communicate over long distances and use echolocation to find food.
Climate Change also bodes ill for ocean life. Melting Arctic ice does more than threaten local species; it alters salinity which has the potential to affect ocean currents further disrupting ecosystems. Plus oceans warm far more near the surface increasing the disparity of densities between surface and deep waters. This restricts the transfer of nutrients from deep water to the surface and oxygen from surface water to deep. This will exacerbate already expanding oxygen deprived deep water dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico caused by farmland fertilizer runoff carried by the Mississippi River. The Chesapeake Bay suffers from the same cause and enclosed seas like the Baltic, Black and Adriatic have developed large dead zones.
Warming waters are already killing coral by disrupting a vital symbiotic relationship in a process called bleaching. Coral reefs support a vibrant diversity of sea creatures which will disappear with the coral. Coral reefs also serve as natural break waters protecting vulnerable beaches as ocean levels rise. Where they have failed, erosion has increased. Coastlines are increasingly vulnerable as wetlands and mangrove forests are replaced by development of everything from home sites to shrimp ponds creating the need for dykes and concrete barriers.
As we pour carbon into the air, carbon dioxide is absorbed by the sea. This acidifies the ocean which interferes with forming skeletons and shells adversely affecting coral, crustaceans, mollusks, many types of plankton, and a wide range of other sea animals and plants. While in the past life has adjusted to and rebounded from carbon dioxide increases from natural causes, it has taken many thousands of years. Manmade climate change is proceeding far quicker than evolution.
The fifth horseman of the biodiversity apocalypse is invasive species; the other four being loss of habitat, pollution, climate change and overfishing/hunting. With unprecedented movement around the globe, foreign invaders are everywhere. One example is the red lionfish, an aggressive predator and a Pacific Ocean native found in many aquariums. Somehow ending up off the coast of Florida it quickly spread to coral reefs throughout the Caribbean where with no enemies it flourished blithely eating its way through a wide variety of unaware native species. There are countless other examples.
The modern day rapid destruction of species has been dubbed the sixth extinction. We understand little about the interconnectedness of life and the magnitude of the risk of removing so many links from the chain, a chain we too are dependent on. The author quotes John Muir, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it connected to the rest of the world.�
One answer to declining catches is aquaculture. Today over 400 species are farmed, predominately shellfish, which feed themselves. But fish like Salmon are fed wild fish further depleting ocean stock. Most land animals we eat are vegetarians, but most fish we like are predators. For each pound of farmed fish produced it can take several pounds of wild fish. Bluefin tuna can eat 20 pounds for each pound harvested. Farmed fish are usually treated with antibiotics, pesticides and fungicides due to their high concentration. Most Salmon are raised in pens open to the sea where their diseases and parasites spread to the wild. Pollution from high concentrations of farmed fish has overtaken bays in China, the Philippines and even Scotland. There are responsible ways to manage fish farms but they eat into profits.
Roberts proposes specific ways to improve aquaculture as well as ways to prevent pollution and stem climate change. Mostly his suggestions are common sense and not particularly new. What is missing is a widespread sense of urgency. He believes strongly in marine reserves to replenish stocks and restore diversity followed by international agreements to limit catch sizes. Essentially the idea is to manage ocean fish like one would farm stock, only taking what can be reliably produced. Small efforts have been made but do not approach a meaningful scale. Such efforts are usually opposed by the fishing industry which seems to always place short term profit ahead of long term viability.
Roberts goes into detail about the processes mentioned here. He is a scientist but his writing is very accessible to the layman. He is also a naturalist and conservationist working to preserve the beauty and balance of the marine ecosystem as well as ensure it is a reliable source of food for an expanding world population. But as nations compete to get every last fish will we have the political will to take his advice? Roberts uses a quote of E. O. Wilson to sum up the challenge. “We have Paleolithic emotions, Middle Age institutions, and God-like technologies.�
March 19, 2017
This is a marvelously articulate, engaging, and accessible presentation of the myriad impacts the human race is having on the world's oceans. In the first chapter, Roberts quickly takes the reader through the pre-human history of the world beginning with the formation of the oceans 4.4 billion years ago and finishing with the end Permian extinction that marks the beginning of the Triassic. He then skips a few (or a few million) years and spends the next chapter describing the history of human interactions with the ocean beginning with the appearance of the genus Homo in the fossil record approximately 2 million years ago and ending with modern advances in fishing practices.
The first two chapters set the stage for the bulk of the book, in which Roberts discusses human impacts on the oceans. Written to an intelligent but lay audience, Roberts describes in detail the myriad consequences of human activities, including ocean acidification, overfishing, plastic and chemical pollution, ecological invasions, warming oceans, noise pollution, disease, and more. He paints a dire, though unfortunately not exaggerated picture of the current state of the oceans that will hopefully encourage all but the hardest of hearts to examine their lifestyles with the goal of mitigating their own contributions to these problems.
The remainder of the book presents some meager hope for the future, though presented in the shadow of the impending calamities associated with our rising population and the difficulties inherent in international policymaking. As a scientist myself, the last few chapters were particularly depressing, as again and again Roberts shows how clear the science is on many of these issues, and how solutions exist, but time and time again those solutions are rejected by policymakers who are more concerned with reelection than with the future.
This book is a sobering look at our oceans and at the human impacts that are damaging and destroying the life they contain. I think that everyone should read this book, and I know of at least one professor at an R1 university who is even using it as the text for a general education class focusing on sustainable oceans.
The first two chapters set the stage for the bulk of the book, in which Roberts discusses human impacts on the oceans. Written to an intelligent but lay audience, Roberts describes in detail the myriad consequences of human activities, including ocean acidification, overfishing, plastic and chemical pollution, ecological invasions, warming oceans, noise pollution, disease, and more. He paints a dire, though unfortunately not exaggerated picture of the current state of the oceans that will hopefully encourage all but the hardest of hearts to examine their lifestyles with the goal of mitigating their own contributions to these problems.
The remainder of the book presents some meager hope for the future, though presented in the shadow of the impending calamities associated with our rising population and the difficulties inherent in international policymaking. As a scientist myself, the last few chapters were particularly depressing, as again and again Roberts shows how clear the science is on many of these issues, and how solutions exist, but time and time again those solutions are rejected by policymakers who are more concerned with reelection than with the future.
This book is a sobering look at our oceans and at the human impacts that are damaging and destroying the life they contain. I think that everyone should read this book, and I know of at least one professor at an R1 university who is even using it as the text for a general education class focusing on sustainable oceans.
September 5, 2019
Tagad jau ir grūti atrast populārzinātnisku grāmatu, kurās apskatītais temats jau nebūtu apskatīts citās iepriekš lasītajās. Tas pēdējā gada laikā man ir padarījis problemātisku populārzinātniskās literatūras izvēli. Divdesmito grāmatu par astrofiziku lasīt kaut kā netīkas. Tagad esmu nonācis līdz sekojošam grāmatas izvēles algoritmam: 1. Izlasīt visas grāmatas par zinātni, kas tikušas līdz Royal Society Winton Prize shortlistam. 2. Izlasīt tās grāmatas, kuru apraksti man patikuši Economist žurnālā. 3. Izlasīt tās grāmatas, kuras nejauši iekritušas man acīs (pārnestā nozīmē).
Šī ir grāmata par ekoloģiju un mūsu civilizācijas mijiedarbību ar jūru. Šķiet, okeāni ir milzīgi, un tos sagandēt nudien nav cilvēka spēkos. Tomēr cilvēku ir daudz, un mūsu mazās un lielās neģēlības, ko jau esam paspējuši sastrādāt, ir novedušas pie nopietnām sekām. Uzturā lietojamo zivju daudzums ir katastrofāli samazinājies. Ūdens ir piesārņots ar visiem iespējamiem ķīmiskajiem savienojumiem. Globālā sasilšana vairs nav tikai pieņēmums, bet jau noticis fakts. Daudzas unikālas sugas ir pakļautas izzušanai, un, iespējams ,koraļļus mēs jūrās redzam pēdējo gadu desmitu.
Vienu vārdu sakot, grāmata mums skaidri un gaiši pasaka � viss ir slikti. Dzīvo jūras krastā � vari sākt domāt, kā uzstutēt savu māju uz pāļiem, lai vismaz savai dzīvei pietiek. Par cik un kā celsies jūras līmenis neviens vēl īsti nezina, bet, ka celsies, tas ir noteikti. Garšo suši, labu apetīti, lasis un tuncis, kā jau plēsīgām zivīm pienākas, ir pilnas ar dažādām toksiskām vielām. Audzēts zivju audzētavā, izrādās, ka arī te zivis baro ar citām zivīm, kas noķertas okeānā. Gribi atstāt ko paliekošu aiz sevis, paņem un uzraksti vēstuli, ieliec to Mangaļu minerālūdens pudelē, iepako rimi maisiņā un iemet jūrā, ja paveiksies, tad tavs vēstījums nonāks kādā no Atlantijas okeāna peldošajuem plastmasas atkritumu laukiem. Te gan jāuzmanās, lai kāds bruņurupucis vai valis tavu vēstījumu nesajauktu ar savu barību. Tie jau nemaz neskatās, ko rij.
Bet nav jau tā, ka autors visu grāmatu būtu veltījis tikai žēlabām. Viņš nāk klajā arī ar priekšlikumiem, kas situāciju varētu uzlabot. Viņš gan nav tik optimistisks, lai uzskatītu, ka visa cilvēku sadarīto varētu izlabot pavisam. Pirmais ir nozvejas kvotu samazināšana, izveidot atsevišķas vietas okeānos, kurās jebkāda zveja būtu aizliegta. Tas ļautu zivju sugām atsperties un nostabilizēt savu populāciju. Vēlams būtu arī atcelt tralēšanu kā zvejas veidu. Jo tās nodarītais posts ekosistēmai ir daudz lielāks nekā papildus noķerto zivju vērtība. Nepieciešams samazināt piesārņojumu, un te jau vajadzīga visas pasaules valstu iesaistīšanās. Un galu galā ir veidi kā tikt galā ar jau esošo piesārņojumu.
Kopumā grāmata pilnībā apskata visu tēmu. Autors ir reālists un saprot, ka cilvēku populācijai pieaugot ir bezcerīgi gaidīt, ka pēkšņi situācija pati no sevis sāks uzlaboties. Tādēļ ar savu grāmatu viņš cenšas pievērst šai problēmai pēc iespējas lielāku auditoriju. Lasīt ir interesanti, un man beidzot arī pieleca, kas tur īsti ir ar to skābekļa piesātinājumu ūdenī. Lieku 9 no 10 ballēm. Iesaku izlasīt visiem, kurus interesē ekoloģija un/ vai garšo zivis.
Šī ir grāmata par ekoloģiju un mūsu civilizācijas mijiedarbību ar jūru. Šķiet, okeāni ir milzīgi, un tos sagandēt nudien nav cilvēka spēkos. Tomēr cilvēku ir daudz, un mūsu mazās un lielās neģēlības, ko jau esam paspējuši sastrādāt, ir novedušas pie nopietnām sekām. Uzturā lietojamo zivju daudzums ir katastrofāli samazinājies. Ūdens ir piesārņots ar visiem iespējamiem ķīmiskajiem savienojumiem. Globālā sasilšana vairs nav tikai pieņēmums, bet jau noticis fakts. Daudzas unikālas sugas ir pakļautas izzušanai, un, iespējams ,koraļļus mēs jūrās redzam pēdējo gadu desmitu.
Vienu vārdu sakot, grāmata mums skaidri un gaiši pasaka � viss ir slikti. Dzīvo jūras krastā � vari sākt domāt, kā uzstutēt savu māju uz pāļiem, lai vismaz savai dzīvei pietiek. Par cik un kā celsies jūras līmenis neviens vēl īsti nezina, bet, ka celsies, tas ir noteikti. Garšo suši, labu apetīti, lasis un tuncis, kā jau plēsīgām zivīm pienākas, ir pilnas ar dažādām toksiskām vielām. Audzēts zivju audzētavā, izrādās, ka arī te zivis baro ar citām zivīm, kas noķertas okeānā. Gribi atstāt ko paliekošu aiz sevis, paņem un uzraksti vēstuli, ieliec to Mangaļu minerālūdens pudelē, iepako rimi maisiņā un iemet jūrā, ja paveiksies, tad tavs vēstījums nonāks kādā no Atlantijas okeāna peldošajuem plastmasas atkritumu laukiem. Te gan jāuzmanās, lai kāds bruņurupucis vai valis tavu vēstījumu nesajauktu ar savu barību. Tie jau nemaz neskatās, ko rij.
Bet nav jau tā, ka autors visu grāmatu būtu veltījis tikai žēlabām. Viņš nāk klajā arī ar priekšlikumiem, kas situāciju varētu uzlabot. Viņš gan nav tik optimistisks, lai uzskatītu, ka visa cilvēku sadarīto varētu izlabot pavisam. Pirmais ir nozvejas kvotu samazināšana, izveidot atsevišķas vietas okeānos, kurās jebkāda zveja būtu aizliegta. Tas ļautu zivju sugām atsperties un nostabilizēt savu populāciju. Vēlams būtu arī atcelt tralēšanu kā zvejas veidu. Jo tās nodarītais posts ekosistēmai ir daudz lielāks nekā papildus noķerto zivju vērtība. Nepieciešams samazināt piesārņojumu, un te jau vajadzīga visas pasaules valstu iesaistīšanās. Un galu galā ir veidi kā tikt galā ar jau esošo piesārņojumu.
Kopumā grāmata pilnībā apskata visu tēmu. Autors ir reālists un saprot, ka cilvēku populācijai pieaugot ir bezcerīgi gaidīt, ka pēkšņi situācija pati no sevis sāks uzlaboties. Tādēļ ar savu grāmatu viņš cenšas pievērst šai problēmai pēc iespējas lielāku auditoriju. Lasīt ir interesanti, un man beidzot arī pieleca, kas tur īsti ir ar to skābekļa piesātinājumu ūdenī. Lieku 9 no 10 ballēm. Iesaku izlasīt visiem, kurus interesē ekoloģija un/ vai garšo zivis.
November 17, 2017
Quotes : "Chapter 2 - Food from the Sea
"Anthropology and archeology have long been in thrall to an image of early humans as big game hunters of the open plains. Game-hunter thinking has us evolving from tree dwellers into savannah dwellers who started to walk on two legs. ...
"This view of human origins has a certain mythological ring to it, suggesting as it does that our plucky species succeeded in a heroic struggle against long odds. But the story has holes. ... we have a mixture of adaptations that make little sense in the absence of water. Today we carry ten times more subcutaneous fat than other primates (we're about as fat as fin whales), which if this was true of our ancestors, wouldn't have been particularly helpful to endurance hunters running down their prey. But it would have insulated us from water. Homo erectus had dense bones more akin to those of diving mammals like manatees than fleet-footed plains hunters. We are prone to dehydration, an uncommon trait in savanna dwellers ... The only other primate that is regularly bipedal today is the proboscis monkey, which wades through swamp waters on its hind legs. Could our shift to bipedalism have been an aquatic adaptation developed by wading to gather shellfish?
" ... recently revived the concept of man as an 'aquatic ape' ... Homo erectus evolved at the waterside and put the fruit-and-nut-cracking technique developed by ancestral forest species to a new use by smashing open shellfish, turtles, and crabs.
"Shellfish are easy to find and gather ... rich in protein and other nutrients needed for brain development. The nervous system, which evolved in the oceans half a billion years ago, was built in part from omega-3 fatty acids made by algae and plankton. These compounds were in short supply for land dwellers ... Savannah models of human evolution see us getting our brain food from scavenged or hunted brains of terrestrial mammals, but waterside sources such as shellfish, waterbirds, eggs, and turtles would have been easier and more regular fare." ...
Roberts describes the evidence in sea side caves showing how early Sapiens consumed a variety of ocean origin foods, then he introduces the ideas of Jon Erlandson, my favorite scientist.
"Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist from the University of Oregon, believes that seafood use and other adaptations to life on the coast were pivotal to human migration out of Africa, as our ancestors followed the coast to Asia and later jumped over the Bering Strait to the Americas. The richly productive coastal habitats found along the way, such as coral reefs, mangroves, and kelp forests, would have provided abundant year-round food. From Asia, people dispersed through Indonesia, where land bridges joined many places that today are islands. The world was ice-bound at the time of this great migration, and sea levels fluctuated one hundred to two hundred feet below those of today. People did face water barriers, the most daunting of which must have been the gap between Indonesia and Australia. Remarkably, they made the leap to Australia at least fifty thousand years ago. ...
"The peopling of Australia provides the first concrete evidence of boat use by modern humans."
...
The chapter ending paragraph :
"What strikes me, looking at the grand vista of human history, is how technological development has sped up with time. ... In the last hundred years, the addition of engine power and modern materials vastly increased the reach of fishing, and in the last thirty years, the lethal edge of fisheries has been sharpened by the addition of computer and satellite technologies. In the next two chapters I will explore how this upward-racing curve of progress has affected life in the sea."
***
(prophecy of the Cree Indians:
"When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money." )
"Anthropology and archeology have long been in thrall to an image of early humans as big game hunters of the open plains. Game-hunter thinking has us evolving from tree dwellers into savannah dwellers who started to walk on two legs. ...
"This view of human origins has a certain mythological ring to it, suggesting as it does that our plucky species succeeded in a heroic struggle against long odds. But the story has holes. ... we have a mixture of adaptations that make little sense in the absence of water. Today we carry ten times more subcutaneous fat than other primates (we're about as fat as fin whales), which if this was true of our ancestors, wouldn't have been particularly helpful to endurance hunters running down their prey. But it would have insulated us from water. Homo erectus had dense bones more akin to those of diving mammals like manatees than fleet-footed plains hunters. We are prone to dehydration, an uncommon trait in savanna dwellers ... The only other primate that is regularly bipedal today is the proboscis monkey, which wades through swamp waters on its hind legs. Could our shift to bipedalism have been an aquatic adaptation developed by wading to gather shellfish?
" ... recently revived the concept of man as an 'aquatic ape' ... Homo erectus evolved at the waterside and put the fruit-and-nut-cracking technique developed by ancestral forest species to a new use by smashing open shellfish, turtles, and crabs.
"Shellfish are easy to find and gather ... rich in protein and other nutrients needed for brain development. The nervous system, which evolved in the oceans half a billion years ago, was built in part from omega-3 fatty acids made by algae and plankton. These compounds were in short supply for land dwellers ... Savannah models of human evolution see us getting our brain food from scavenged or hunted brains of terrestrial mammals, but waterside sources such as shellfish, waterbirds, eggs, and turtles would have been easier and more regular fare." ...
Roberts describes the evidence in sea side caves showing how early Sapiens consumed a variety of ocean origin foods, then he introduces the ideas of Jon Erlandson, my favorite scientist.
"Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist from the University of Oregon, believes that seafood use and other adaptations to life on the coast were pivotal to human migration out of Africa, as our ancestors followed the coast to Asia and later jumped over the Bering Strait to the Americas. The richly productive coastal habitats found along the way, such as coral reefs, mangroves, and kelp forests, would have provided abundant year-round food. From Asia, people dispersed through Indonesia, where land bridges joined many places that today are islands. The world was ice-bound at the time of this great migration, and sea levels fluctuated one hundred to two hundred feet below those of today. People did face water barriers, the most daunting of which must have been the gap between Indonesia and Australia. Remarkably, they made the leap to Australia at least fifty thousand years ago. ...
"The peopling of Australia provides the first concrete evidence of boat use by modern humans."
...
The chapter ending paragraph :
"What strikes me, looking at the grand vista of human history, is how technological development has sped up with time. ... In the last hundred years, the addition of engine power and modern materials vastly increased the reach of fishing, and in the last thirty years, the lethal edge of fisheries has been sharpened by the addition of computer and satellite technologies. In the next two chapters I will explore how this upward-racing curve of progress has affected life in the sea."
***
(prophecy of the Cree Indians:
"When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money." )
January 11, 2023
Cartea prezinta impactul negativ al actiunilor oamenilor, companiilor si guvernelor lumii (in acest caz, mai mult a pasivitatii lor) asupra vietii din oceane.
March 26, 2020
One month and a half later, I finally finished this book. It is a great book, I won’t deny it. But, I thought it would be more about water and the creatures surviving in it and less about some things that happen on land.
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March 3, 2016The Ocean of Life provided extremely useful information regarding my Capstone Research project. The first half of the book basically explains how humans have negatively affected the ocean and what has happened because of it. It gave me a better understanding for what some of the big issues are with the oceans and why they are occurring. It was most interesting when he would use statistics that were easy to understand. The author, Callum Roberts, is a marine conservation biologist in the Environment Department at the University of New York, so he wrote as a scientist which was sometimes hard to understand. Although, since I am using the book for a research paper, it turned out to be helpful. He also did a nice job of explaining what he meant through analogies that were easy to understand. Roberts would often start a chapter using a short anecdote which made the information intriguing, making me to be excited to read further. Roberts shares many of the same views I do concerning the ocean and the environment, so it was very interesting to go more in depth into the issues in a way that I feel strongly about. Towards the end of the book, Roberts offers solutions to the issues our oceans are facing which will be very helpful to use in my paper. It is difficult to find proposed solutions and even more difficult to come up with them on my own, so I will most likely be using his ideas in my paper.
This book was not easy to read, and it some places it was not enjoyable either. Although, it did offer very useful information I will most likely end up using in my paper. It gave me great background information on my topic and ideas I could use as my Capstone project progresses.
This book was not easy to read, and it some places it was not enjoyable either. Although, it did offer very useful information I will most likely end up using in my paper. It gave me great background information on my topic and ideas I could use as my Capstone project progresses.
March 19, 2017
Fantástico libro que conciencia acerca del estado los océanos del planeta y los peligros del cambio climático, desde la sobrepesca a la acidificación del océano, pasando por la contaminación de este tanto por vertidos contaminantes como por la invasión del plástico en el mar.
Mantiene un tono de alerta realista y serio, explica los inminentes peligros y etapas de cambio catastróficas que probablemente ocurran a finales de este siglo, no obstante tampoco llega a mostrase apocalíptico o desesperanzado.
De hecho, respecto a esto último, dedica la última tercera parte del libro a proponer ideas y medidas para facilitar la conservación y regeneración de la biosfera marítima, prevenir los efectos causantes del cambio climático y abastecer las necesidades humanas. Tarea tan ardua como suena, pero posible. Y necesaria si queremos mantener una mínima estabilidad en nuestro planeta.
La única pega ha sido el hecho que el libro tiene numerosos fallos de edición, poco esporádicos pero sí consistentes en su presencia a lo largo del libro que a veces dificultaban la comprensión de alguna frase. No eran faltas de ortografía, sino repeticiones o ausencia de palabras, errores con los espacios, etc.
Puntúo un 4/5.
Mantiene un tono de alerta realista y serio, explica los inminentes peligros y etapas de cambio catastróficas que probablemente ocurran a finales de este siglo, no obstante tampoco llega a mostrase apocalíptico o desesperanzado.
De hecho, respecto a esto último, dedica la última tercera parte del libro a proponer ideas y medidas para facilitar la conservación y regeneración de la biosfera marítima, prevenir los efectos causantes del cambio climático y abastecer las necesidades humanas. Tarea tan ardua como suena, pero posible. Y necesaria si queremos mantener una mínima estabilidad en nuestro planeta.
La única pega ha sido el hecho que el libro tiene numerosos fallos de edición, poco esporádicos pero sí consistentes en su presencia a lo largo del libro que a veces dificultaban la comprensión de alguna frase. No eran faltas de ortografía, sino repeticiones o ausencia de palabras, errores con los espacios, etc.
Puntúo un 4/5.
April 10, 2023
Should be called ocean of depression because shit is bleak
February 27, 2022
Mai complexă decât mă așteptam, dar mi-a plăcut. Foarte multe detalii fizice și chimice ale oceanelor și ce le înconjoară, dar și detalii despre impactul omenirii asupra lor, de la începutul distrugerii, până la momentul actual. Trebuie răbdare, dar dacă sunteți pasionați, merită! Iar dacă vreți să aflați secretul din spatele extincției vietăților din oceane, merită!
Pe lângă detaliile care ne pun în alertă, am aflat și despre câteva acțiuni ale unor țări care m-au dezgustat. Spre exemplu momentul în care în Marea Britanie se umpluse fluviul Tamisa cu excremente, astfel încat clădirea Parlamentului, care era pe malul nordic al Tamisei, a fost învăluită de un miros puternic, iar aceștia au fost nevoiți să acopere ferestrele cu cearșafuri îmbibate în clor pentru a estompa mirosul. Desigur, asta se întâmpla în 1858 când closetele de apa înlocuiau oalele de noapte, dar chiar și așa, a fost autorizată acțiunea de a lăsa excrementele în Tamisa!
Destul de dramatică, da, dar cum altfel să ne facă să conștientizăm gravitatea situației?
Pe lângă detaliile care ne pun în alertă, am aflat și despre câteva acțiuni ale unor țări care m-au dezgustat. Spre exemplu momentul în care în Marea Britanie se umpluse fluviul Tamisa cu excremente, astfel încat clădirea Parlamentului, care era pe malul nordic al Tamisei, a fost învăluită de un miros puternic, iar aceștia au fost nevoiți să acopere ferestrele cu cearșafuri îmbibate în clor pentru a estompa mirosul. Desigur, asta se întâmpla în 1858 când closetele de apa înlocuiau oalele de noapte, dar chiar și așa, a fost autorizată acțiunea de a lăsa excrementele în Tamisa!
Destul de dramatică, da, dar cum altfel să ne facă să conștientizăm gravitatea situației?
August 14, 2017
Apparently I like to read depressing non-fiction, and here's another in a long line of books articulating just how badly we humans are fucking the environment. This one is particularly distressing, because most people just blithely assume we can do whatever the fuck we want to the ocean and it will just absorb and fix it, because of its vastness. And then there's the substantial number of people who still fucking deny climate change, or when backed into a corner move to denying that it's anthropogenic, and when backed into a corner again, say we can't do anything anyway, and it would cost too much, and trying to fix it would wreck the economy. Even worse, the assholes who say, "well, climate change will actually be good" usually right after having denied its existence. I have become so weary of the argument. There is no serious scientific controversy anymore, except in the minute details where only the true experts understand the nuances.
The truly ironic thing is, that conservation efforts in the sea would be a long-term economic plus. The very people who want to prevent protections because of economy are ignoring the fucking evidence that sustainability is good for everyone, and good for economies. I have no more patience for the assholes.
I am amazed at how Callum Roberts remains so positive throughout this book, acknowledging that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, but still seeking solutions, and attempting to reach across the political divides. He has far more optimism than I do. It is a good thing that there are people like him out there trying to help.
The truly ironic thing is, that conservation efforts in the sea would be a long-term economic plus. The very people who want to prevent protections because of economy are ignoring the fucking evidence that sustainability is good for everyone, and good for economies. I have no more patience for the assholes.
I am amazed at how Callum Roberts remains so positive throughout this book, acknowledging that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, but still seeking solutions, and attempting to reach across the political divides. He has far more optimism than I do. It is a good thing that there are people like him out there trying to help.
October 11, 2012
A very well written book about a very tough subject.
Roberts manages to convey the crisis of the oceans that is almost on us with sparkling clarity. He doesn't over complicate the subject, but writes with an urgency and a passion.
The chapters are quite gloomy when you consider how bad the seas are. He covers the amount of rubbish, in particular plastics that are in the sea, the steady acidification due to the water absorbing carbon dioxide relentlessly. He covers the scandalous trade in sharks fin, and the devastation that bottom trawling and by catch is having. Grim, very grim.
But in all the bad news, there is some hope. More nations are starting to set aside marine reserves, and he details how even a small reserve can have a massive change to a far wider area.
A must read for those interested in the state of the largest wilderness on the planet.
Roberts manages to convey the crisis of the oceans that is almost on us with sparkling clarity. He doesn't over complicate the subject, but writes with an urgency and a passion.
The chapters are quite gloomy when you consider how bad the seas are. He covers the amount of rubbish, in particular plastics that are in the sea, the steady acidification due to the water absorbing carbon dioxide relentlessly. He covers the scandalous trade in sharks fin, and the devastation that bottom trawling and by catch is having. Grim, very grim.
But in all the bad news, there is some hope. More nations are starting to set aside marine reserves, and he details how even a small reserve can have a massive change to a far wider area.
A must read for those interested in the state of the largest wilderness on the planet.
April 1, 2018
In Ocean of Life, Callum Roberts shows how the oceans have changed - from prehistoric times to today. His focus is on man-made changes, dealing with such topics as overfishing, destructive fishing methods, plastic and chemical pollution, winds and currents, excessive noise, dead-zones, disease, farm-fish etc. The book is however, not all doom and gloom. Roberts dedicates the last quarter of his book to methods that may work to restore or at least diminish the negative effects humans have on ocean life - provided people are willing to implement them. This is a well-written, articulate, interesting and engaging book, with short chapters covering specific topics. What happens to the Oceans is relevant to everyone on this planet, and this book provides an eye-opening summary of the importance of the Oceans and how humans have and can effect them for good or ill.
July 27, 2018
I would recommend this book to everyone simply due to the importance of its message. Roberts presents the current problems (although the book is now the better part of a decade old so some of the facts are dated) facing the marine environment in a clear way that will be accessible even to those with a limited scientific or ecologicial knowledge, but without oversimplifying them. This book will infuriate you with the extent to which humans have ravaged the natural world, at a cost to our own wellbeing, and inspire you to be part of the solution. As anyone would expect from a book like this, it was sometimes slow reading, but I still definitely enjoyed it overall.
December 26, 2019
Excellent read. Includes not only what you would expect pertaining to the importance of the oceans and their connections with the climate crisis (e.g. warming, acidification) and other crises (e.g. overfishing, pollution), but also a wonderful first chapter covering the history of our planet as it pertains to the oceans from 4.56 billion years ago up until the start of human history. Furthermore, the introduction to the dynamics of the ocean (upwellings, downwellings, the global ocean conveyor current, global air circulation, etc) is a helpful place to start understanding why a warming ocean is not a good thing.
August 30, 2020
Roberts gets ambitious for putting all sides of the ocean management challenge together in one tome. We have a string of reports featuring sea level rise, acidification, temperature increase, noise pollution, plastic junk accumulation, fish farm side-effects, alien species, etc. He argues passionately on the issues, laying out the case that limiting catches and seabed destruction for significant segments of the ocean will allow larger sustainable yields in the future. He's right, he's got the big picture, plus some stories of hope from communities that are doing things well.
February 23, 2017
A great overview of the ways in which people interact with the sea and some of the wonders hidden beneath the waves. The book can be depressing in parts if only because it doesn't shy away from the fact that humans are doing immeasurable damage to the oceans. The part about the tuna bycatch is horrifying. Overall Callum Roberts has written a knowledgeable and engaging book that I highly recommend.
September 6, 2017
Although the cover suggests it, this book is not just about the oceans and it's wonderful inhabitants. It's about the good of our whole planet and what we can do to stop the temperature rise, pollution, over fishing, etc. Everyone should read this book and see what's really happening to the planet and what we are leaving our future generations.
February 9, 2014
Sobering but not alarmist audit of the state of our seas and oceans.
January 16, 2019
The book "The Ocean Of Life: The Fate of Man and The Sea" by Callum Roberts is a book full of Knowledge, Pictures, and Facts about the ocean. The book is some what interesting and teaches you about the fate of the ocean and the creatures living within the waters. Callum Roberts wrote this book to somewhat inform people about the what we are causing in the oceans.
I gave this book 3 stars because it was kinda interesting and learning about the ocean was neat but it got boring at some parts also. The scene where Jonah is at the wall holding a cloud sign is a little boring and other parts as well. Some interesting things in this book are when they Showed the pictures of the sea creatures and all the garbage building up in the ocean.
The book "The Ocean Of Life: The Fate of Man and The Sea" is a very appealing book it may seem like other ocean books but its a different yet sorta interesting book. It's full of information. I recommend this book to someone with time to read it and someone who likes history.
I gave this book 3 stars because it was kinda interesting and learning about the ocean was neat but it got boring at some parts also. The scene where Jonah is at the wall holding a cloud sign is a little boring and other parts as well. Some interesting things in this book are when they Showed the pictures of the sea creatures and all the garbage building up in the ocean.
The book "The Ocean Of Life: The Fate of Man and The Sea" is a very appealing book it may seem like other ocean books but its a different yet sorta interesting book. It's full of information. I recommend this book to someone with time to read it and someone who likes history.
March 5, 2021
Brilliant
June 28, 2022
I love a book that gets me thinking about problems in a new way and has me excited enough to share the ideas with friends in casual conversation. This book was one of those books.
I am not myself a scientist and do not feel qualified to comment on the merit of the author's scientific arguments, but they seemed to be sound and backed by both observational and empirical data.
I am an amateur environmentalist and have been working to build habitat for native flora and fauna in my yard. Recently while walking the farm of a like-minded friend we were talking about his struggles with approaching the non-natives that spring up on the farm. Fo you scrub out the beautiful, healthy Scotch Pine because it is a non-native? Do you destroy the nest of the house sparrow that you found in your bluebird box? Neither of us made a firm decision, but Roberts ideas on the necessity of species migration given climate change deepened the conversation.
Likewise, I found myself talking with my son, who will be starting his university environmental science studies in the fall, about the shifting baselines in human minds for what a 'normal' healthy population of a species looks like. Having never seen, for example, a flock of passenger pigeons so large it blocked out the sun or a school of tuna so healthy you couldn't help but catch one when you dropped your hook, we are sometimes blissfully unaware of our loss - but if we look back know what we have lost we can work to restore it.
It isn't all bleak. Roberts sees hope for the oceans, just as I have hope for the land. We've done a great job working to restore myriad species that were rare when I was young - herons and eagles, wolves and elk in my own state. But it takes effort and intention. Thank goodness for books like Roberts that help us see what needs to be done and what the cost of inaction is.
I am not myself a scientist and do not feel qualified to comment on the merit of the author's scientific arguments, but they seemed to be sound and backed by both observational and empirical data.
I am an amateur environmentalist and have been working to build habitat for native flora and fauna in my yard. Recently while walking the farm of a like-minded friend we were talking about his struggles with approaching the non-natives that spring up on the farm. Fo you scrub out the beautiful, healthy Scotch Pine because it is a non-native? Do you destroy the nest of the house sparrow that you found in your bluebird box? Neither of us made a firm decision, but Roberts ideas on the necessity of species migration given climate change deepened the conversation.
Likewise, I found myself talking with my son, who will be starting his university environmental science studies in the fall, about the shifting baselines in human minds for what a 'normal' healthy population of a species looks like. Having never seen, for example, a flock of passenger pigeons so large it blocked out the sun or a school of tuna so healthy you couldn't help but catch one when you dropped your hook, we are sometimes blissfully unaware of our loss - but if we look back know what we have lost we can work to restore it.
It isn't all bleak. Roberts sees hope for the oceans, just as I have hope for the land. We've done a great job working to restore myriad species that were rare when I was young - herons and eagles, wolves and elk in my own state. But it takes effort and intention. Thank goodness for books like Roberts that help us see what needs to be done and what the cost of inaction is.
Currently reading
February 6, 2017 The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea was written by Callum Roberts. I picked this book because the theme of this quarters book was an issue that is important in today’s society. The issue I picked was ocean conservation. I believe this book was going to promising. The only thing was that the first couple of chapters all it talks about is how the Earth and the oceans were created. It talks about nothing of ocean conservation. This book in my opinion doesn’t focus on the important issue of ocean conservation because it really just talks about how the oceans were created and what happens on the oceans. It doesn’t talk about how to save the oceans and how to make them better.
This book as I stated early talks mainly about how the ocean and the Earth was created. As well as talk about how the ocean was created the book talks about the first humans and how they fished. The author also talks about how the first humans became better and more evolved in the way of fishing. The author also talks about where artifacts of the first signs of humans fishing have been found.
The end of this was very touching to someone like me. The reason why I say that is because I want to become a Marine Biologist, and I don’t want the ocean to be gone by the time I’m able to make a difference in the ocean. The end of the book talked about how we have made gains and how we have had losses in saving the ocean. But the main thing that stuck out to me was that the author says that the time to do something is now not later. I will take that and run with because I am going to start doing my part now.
My personal opinion of this book is that it’s a great book to read if you want some knowledge on the Earth. This book is kind of like books on geology because in the beginning of the book that’s all it kind of talks about. If you’re a person who is into knowing how the Earth was created, and early human development then this is the book for you because that is a heavy subject in this book.
This book as I stated early talks mainly about how the ocean and the Earth was created. As well as talk about how the ocean was created the book talks about the first humans and how they fished. The author also talks about how the first humans became better and more evolved in the way of fishing. The author also talks about where artifacts of the first signs of humans fishing have been found.
The end of this was very touching to someone like me. The reason why I say that is because I want to become a Marine Biologist, and I don’t want the ocean to be gone by the time I’m able to make a difference in the ocean. The end of the book talked about how we have made gains and how we have had losses in saving the ocean. But the main thing that stuck out to me was that the author says that the time to do something is now not later. I will take that and run with because I am going to start doing my part now.
My personal opinion of this book is that it’s a great book to read if you want some knowledge on the Earth. This book is kind of like books on geology because in the beginning of the book that’s all it kind of talks about. If you’re a person who is into knowing how the Earth was created, and early human development then this is the book for you because that is a heavy subject in this book.
January 28, 2018
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April 17, 2020
Published in 2012, The Ocean of Life aims to bring attention to the ocean and its life, an entity obscure to most people due to being underwater, and therefore out of sight. Beginning with the surprising fact that early human ancestors likely already have a seafood-rich diet, the narrative progresses to the expansion of civilization and with it the ever-increasing harvesting of seafood from the oceans, culminating in the Industrial Revolution where the oceans are treated as food source, power generators, and even dumpsters. This book comprehensively covers all issues concerning today's oceans, including more obscure issues such as noise pollution in the sea. However, the deluge of information resulted in the main call-to-action of the book - action against overfishing, seemed to be drowned out by the other chapters. Fortunately, the ending chapters of the book focuses on concrete action that anyone can take to reduce overfishing, including seafood buying guides and boycotting fisheries with destructive fishing practices. An educational read.
April 11, 2020
I’ll be the first to admit that this took me a long time to read, but it’s worth it. While it is a little outdated, there is still so much valuable information about our oceans that it can serve as a starting point. If you take anything way from the very shocking and depression state of our oceans let it be that change is possible. I like that Roberts ends each chapter with how things can be changed and with optimism that it will. Let it inspire you to make better, more informed choice and to use your voice to lobby for the future.
September 26, 2017
An clearly structured overview of all the stresses on the oceans of Earth. It is an amazing work for anyone with an interest in the ocean.
The writer uses many different examples and this ensures rich reading, but I though he takes just a bit too long before moving in the solutions. And even in the solutions, I felt a bit short changed as the solution focus mainly on overfishing and the protection of habitat, rather than noise pollution, acidification of the ocean and plastic.
The writer uses many different examples and this ensures rich reading, but I though he takes just a bit too long before moving in the solutions. And even in the solutions, I felt a bit short changed as the solution focus mainly on overfishing and the protection of habitat, rather than noise pollution, acidification of the ocean and plastic.
May 7, 2017
In this book, Roberts does an amazing job of really showing just how for gone our environment is, however he offers factual information and wonderful suggestions on how to improve our seas!
I also really enjoyed the appendix that gave amazing advice on purchasing and eating seafood responsibly. A must-read for any aspiring marine biologist or conservationist.
I also really enjoyed the appendix that gave amazing advice on purchasing and eating seafood responsibly. A must-read for any aspiring marine biologist or conservationist.
September 25, 2023
Excelente libro, lamentablemente la traducción en algunas partes no es correcta, aunque no dificulta la lectura, suele ser un poco molesto.
Pero a pesar de eso, definitivamente un libro 100% recomendado! Sobre todo para quienes se adentran en el mundo del océano y lo que ocurre actualmente con el.
Pero a pesar de eso, definitivamente un libro 100% recomendado! Sobre todo para quienes se adentran en el mundo del océano y lo que ocurre actualmente con el.
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June 5, 2012Heard author on Diane Rehm show on 6/5/12.
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