This book chronicles a menu of threats to our nation’s seas and marine animals, from the overfishing of codfish in New England to groupers too small to spawn being caught in Texas, and from the ear infections of surfers in the sometimes contaminated waters of southern California to the seemingly endless appetite of factory trawl fishing boats in Alaska.
For anyone interested in marine environmental management, this book does two things. First, it gives the reader a sense that one’s local coastal problems are taking place in a larger national context. Second, it does this in a way that is journalistic and anecdotal, with a text comprised more of varied and interesting examples and stories than grandstanding conclusions. This style makes for a read that does not shy away from the sometimes-shocking environmental effects of human policy, but still manages to be as fast moving and entertaining as a travelogue.
While some shocking anecdotes stand out, such as the extent of the “dead zone” of de-oxygenated water coming from the mouth of the Mississippi River (about the size of New Jersey and growing), and the level of discarded bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery (about three of four pounds of juvenile fish for each pound of shrimp), for the most part the book outlines a marine torture of a thousand cuts. For many regions this led to declines in species and habitats gradual enough as to be truly recognizable only once the fish were gone. Examples of non-biologic changes are also detailed, such as the threat to coastal areas from global warming, and the impact of hurricanes.
The litany of man-caused marine insults listed across the globe makes one wonder which of these threats are present in our own neighborhood, the Gulf of Maine. Thankfully we are relatively free of the endless beach condos eroding the beaches with seawalls one finds in the southern Atlantic states, or the almost incomprehensibly short-sighted harvesting (and simultaneous destruction) of the coral reefs with dynamite and cyanide across the South Pacific, or the seemingly precarious balance of industry and the environment seen in the thousands of offshore oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. However, some of the other situations outlined in the book strike closer to home, most notably the management and decline of the New England groundfishery, which is held forth as an example of the most ineffective and conflict-of-interest ridden marine resource management processes anywhere in the country.
Overfishing of groundfish, tuna, swordfish and others stands out as the primary problem outlined in the book that might be considered local, but rampant and irresponsible coastal development is certainly a runner-up. The southern coastal beach development stories, tales of multi-million dollar building booms followed by even vaster amounts of government money spent on rebuilding and insurance after the inevitable hurricane or storm-driven destruction, were such illustrations of hubris and pointless waste that I think any sensible Yankee must object on economic, if not environmental, grounds. The section on marine protected areas is also of local interest, with consideration of how these localized conservation areas could best fit into traditionally open-access New England waters. The book gives examples of marine sanctuaries from throughout the country, and outlines some of the benefits, but also describes the sometimes-painful political process that accompanied the birth of these areas, a process that will no doubt be doubly difficult in our multiple-use waters.
Across the nation, coastlines and offshore waters are threatened by a variety of issues, but this book brings them all together and makes one realize that some of the solutions may have been looked at elsewhere, or on the other side of the coin. Reading it can make one realize that things could become a lot worse at home. What-ever the situation, this book does reinforce the point that these are our waters, and to keep them in good health it is local residents, groups and governing bodies that are having the most conservation and preservation impact. Considering more and more Americans are moving to the shore (currently 53 percent of the U.S. population is living within 50 miles of the coastline), these marine resource use issues are certain to intensify. Blue Frontier goes a long way towards fostering a sense of respect, appreciation and urgency in the way we look out on the ocean.