Reviews

Sharing the Ocean: Stories of Science, Politics, and Ownership from America's Oldest Industry

 
By Michael Crocker
Photographs by Rebecca Hale
Published by NAMA and Tilbury House

"Most popular and scholarly investigations of the New England ground fish management crisis have focused on the struggle between environmentalists and scientists to prevent exploitation. Instead, this book explores how an ideology shared by officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service and mainstream environmentalists has paradoxically sustained the ecological crisis and led to an unjust distribution of access to the fishery. It's a fascinating demonstration of how deeply the fisheries crisis and, indeed, most natural resource dilemmas, are influenced by competing social values." - Maine Maritime Museum, July 2009

"Crocker's central thesis is that a series of political missteps over the last thirty years undermined many fishermen's faith in the system and caused massive declines in fish stocks. He argues that the way to restore faith and save fish populations is to grant power to fishermen at the local scale to manage the fisheries on which they depend." - L. McClenachan, International Journal of Maritime History. June 2009

"Today, small-scale fishing communities are struggling to maintain some hold on their past and re-create a sustainable future. Many of these coastal communities now offer a pretty scene with boats tied in the harbor—relics of our fishing past—rather than the bustling fishing ports that once supported the local economy.... Michael Crocker writes from the perspective of a science journalist, but he also possesses an insider's view of the crisis as a result of working for the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) for five years. His book offers a frank assessment of the complex relationships that exist between the New England Management Council, inshore and offshore groundfish fleets, and environmental groups that are trying to restore the ecological integrity of the Gulf of Maine."  — Cheryl Perusse Daigle, Orion Magazine Read the full review.

"Sharing the Ocean had to be written. For too long the story of the collapse of New England's groundfishery has been incomplete. What was missing was the fishermen's side. Mike Crocker draws on a variety of sources--science, history, and anthroplogy--to help connect the dots. But equally important is that during the hours Crocker spent on the water as a fisheries journalist and deckhand he was listening very closely to the stories fishermen had to tell about the management problem. So we shouldn't be surprised to discover that the solution he proposes is quite different from what we might expect--and one that might just work." — Linda Greenlaw, author of The Hungry Ocean, The Lobster Chronicles, All Fishermen are Liars, and Slipknot
"I have been deeply impressed by the courage, character, and resilience of Maine's fishing community.... Sharing the Ocean is an honest and moving portrait of those men and women, with all their diverse histories, dreams, and motivations. I hope that readers will be inspired by the dedication, environmental ethic, and self-sacrifice of these individuals, and outraged at the management failures that have decimated fish populations and are forcing fishermen out of business. The loss of this vibrant fishing community would be a tragedy, and Mike Crocker's book is a passionate and articulate call to reverse course and protect this important part of Maine and New England's heritage." — Thomas H. Allen, Former Member of Congress, from the Foreword