The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea
By Callum Roberts
Viking, New York, NY. $30.00, hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN 978-0-670-02354-7 (2012).
Penguin, New York, NY. $17.00, paperback, 432 pages, 978-0-143-12348-4 (4/30/13).
Reviewed by Lee Bumsted
If we are not inspired to protect the sea and the life within it for altruistic reasons, perhaps an appeal to our self-interests will provide more incentive. Callum Roberts clearly forecasts how inaction on our part may be catastrophic for more than marine life in The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea.
Roberts, a professor of marine conservation at the University of York in England, won the Rachel Carson Environmental Book Award for The Unnatural History of the Sea. In his earlier book, he detailed how dramatically we have reduced the populations of the fish we harvest. In The Ocean of Life, he adds to this the effects of climate change, pollution, and habitat degradation on the sea as other causes for concern.
One billion of the planet’s 7 billion human inhabitants consume seafood as their main source of animal protein, Roberts writes. It takes greater effort than ever before to catch fish and landings of wild fish are declining. Meanwhile, the world’s population continues to ratchet up and create even higher demand.
Roberts likens fishing today to a Ponzi scheme, in that fisheries are running out of capital. “For decades now we have been depleting natural resources at an unsustainable rate and literally eating into our assets,” he states. “We are like debtors living the high life until the moment our creditors force us into bankruptcy.”
Besides overfishing, we are further stressing fish by changing the chemistry of the sea, raising its temperature, and adding toxins to it. We are introducing change at such a rapid pace that it is increasingly challenging for marine life to adapt. If the rate of change accelerates even more, he fears that some ecosystems will not be able to respond in a viable way.
Sea level rise due to melting ice caps is another issue tied directly to climate change. As Roberts notes, 10 percent of the world’s population lives near coastlines, on land less than 33 feet above today’s sea level. Continued sea level rise would trigger mass migrations of people away from the coast. It would also destroy valuable agricultural land.
Before turning to ways these issues may be addressed, Roberts discusses the “environmentalist’s paradox.” This paradox might help explain why so little has been done to protect the ocean and marine life to date.
The premise of the paradox is that many people perceive life as getting better. Indices of well-being such as education levels, food production, gross domestic product, and even happiness align with this. It has been hard for the general public to reconcile this perception with a pressing need to address the health of the oceans. He feels that escalating exposure to natural disasters such as floods could shake this unwillingness to face the facts.
Roberts carefully summarizes the challenges we have inflicted on the oceans and offers positive courses of action. He devotes several chapters to strategies that could revitalize the sea. Some, such as marine reserves, have already proven a boon to fisheries. He urges that reserves be established over much larger areas. The way we fish outside these reserves needs to change, so that more fish grow to maturity and the ocean floor is not destroyed. We must reduce the stress placed on marine life through climate change and pollution.
He proposes that while we may reach for engineered solutions to hold back the rising sea, we should also invest more effort in natural defenses. Healthy wetlands, estuaries and coral reefs can help protect us from sea level rise in ways that manmade structures cannot.
“Our world is changing faster than at any time in human history. While our relationship with the oceans has hit a low, there is still time for us to change course,” Roberts concludes. “It is essential for ocean life and our own that we transform ourselves from being a species that uses up its resources to one that cherishes and nurtures them.”
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