The End of the Line by Charles Clover
Click to find at a library near you!
“We need to fence the range, even in the wildest and remotest parts of the ocean. And we should not weep for the death of the cowboy” (327).
Author Charles Clover refers to fishermen as cowboys in this analogy lifted from his book The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat (2008). Clover explains that overfishing is an urgent concern worldwide, and action can no longer be delayed no matter who will be affected. Ultimately, if appropriate steps aren’t taken, the affects of overfishing will extend much further than just fishermen.
The book touches on nearly every aspect of fishing: fishing practices and technology, resistance to limiting catch, history, canned tuna, methods of action and more. The End of the Line will certainly change the habits of anyone who reads it. Those changes of habit, coupled with changes in law all around the world, are almost certainly necessary to avoid the collapse of many fishing stocks, similar to stocks that have already collapsed (ex: Atlantic Cod) and devastated more than just local ‘cowboys.’
