The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America - Softcover

Franklin, H. Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597265071 ISBN 13: 9781597265072

Publisher: Island Press, 2008

Synopsis

This is the story of a once abundant fish decimated by corporate interests.In this brilliant portrait of the oceans' unlikely hero, H. Bruce Franklin shows how menhaden have shaped America's natural - and national - history, and why a single company now threatens their crucial ecological mission. The same pudgy little fish that once saved the Pilgrims from starvation and helped power the industrial revolution are today being ground up by the billions and turned into everything from linoleum to lipstick. The massive harvest isn't just devastating one fish, but the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In Franklin's vibrant prose, the menhaden's decline becomes an adventure story, an exciting exploration of American history, and an inspiring call to action.

About this title

Review:

"By 1880 there were almost three times more menhaden ships than whaling ships, but since then only three authors have written books about menhaden, and only Bruce Franklin has told the real story. The Most Important Fish in the Sea is a valuable history, a desperately needed warning and a terrific read."--Ted Williams "Conservation Editor, Fly Rod & Reel, Editor-at-Large, Audubon "

"When I was growing up, the Atlantic beaches were occasionally decorated with ranks of dead, smelly menhaden, which we knew as 'mossbunkers.' It took this marvelous book to reveal the ecological, nutritional, and economic significance of Brevoortia tyrannus. Who would have thought that the mossbunker, almost inedible because of its oily flesh, would be one of the most important components of America's commercial fisheries and the health of its coastal waters?"--Richard Ellis "author of The Empty Ocean and Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn "

"How is it possible that a sizeable fish vital to the oceanic food chain and intertwined for three centuries with the cultural histories of both natives and settlers could nevertheless completely escape the notice of most Americans and within a few short years be driven to the brink of extinction for no valid reason whatever? This well researched and vigorously written book--certain to be of wide interest to academic and general readers alike--will tell you why."--Lawrence Buell "Harvard University, author of The Environmental Imagination "

"The history of this fish's exploitation for fertilizer and to manufacture numerous products is a fascinating slice of Americana. How menhaden have fallen prey today to a single corporation--with potentially catastrophic effects to the ecosystem--is a saga that will outrage every conservation-minded citizen."--Dick Russell "author of Striper Wars and Eye of the Whale "

"Franklin makes the case--persuasively--that the menhaden's role in marine ecology, and its story of decline, is 'perhaps unmatched anywhere on the planet.'"--Philadelphia Inquirer

"Franklin shows how anglers and environmentalists can work together to preserve this crucial species."--Plenty magazine

"Franklin's book on the runty menhaden is a killer whale achievement. It's an eloquent call to end the phony business of incremental regulation of fisheries that are rapidly being driven by industry into the abyss."--Baltimore Sun

"'prose is lucid and infused with an urgency that depends little on hyperbole and largely on careful documentation. His compelling narrative informs and enlightens."--The Washington Post

"Franklin's book is thus not merely an elegant and erudite study of a moribund industry, but an impassioned plea to return our ailing East Coast waters to a state of healthy equilibrium."--Natural History magazine

"This informative, riveting narrative exposes the greed, short-sightedness and unintended consequences which nearly destroyed the Atlantic coast ecosystem entirely..."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

About the Author:

H. Bruce Franklin is the John Cotton Dana Professor of English and American Studies at Rutgers University - Newark. He has authored or edited eighteen books, including War Stars: The Superweapon and the American Imagination and Vietnam and Other American Fantasies. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Science, The Nation, Discover, and many other publications.

About this edition

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1597265071
• ISBN 13: 9781597265072
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280