Vanishing fish : shifting baselines and the future of global fisheries / Daniel Pauly ; foreword by Jennifer Jacquet.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-279) and index.

Duplicity and ignorance in fisheries -- Aquacalypse now : the end of fish -- Major trends in small-scale fisheries -- ITQs : the assumptions behind a meme -- Putting fisheries management in its places -- Fisheries management : for whom? -- Fishing more and catching less -- Bycatch uses in Southeast Asia -- On reconstructing catch time series -- A global, community-driven catch database -- Catches do reflect abundance -- The shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries -- Further thoughts on historical observations -- Consilience in research -- Focusing one's microscope -- Homo sapiens : cancer or parasite? -- Academics in public policy debates -- Worrying about whales -- Not the fisheries committee -- My personal odyssey. 1, On becoming a Canadian fisheries scientist -- My personal odyssey. 2, Toward a conservation ethic for the seas -- My personal odyssey. 3, Having to science the hell out of it -- Epilogue: Some gloom, but surely no doom.

"The world's fisheries are in crisis. Their catches are declining, and the stocks of key species, such as cod and bluefin tuna, are but a small fraction of their previous abundance, while others have been overfished almost to extinction. The oceans are depleted and the commercial fishing industry increasingly depends on subsidies to remain afloat. In these essays, award-winning biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly offers a thought-provoking look at the state of today's global fisheries--and a radical way to turn it around. Starting with the rapid expansion that followed World War II, he traces the arc of the fishing industry's ensuing demise, offering insights into how and why it has failed. With clear, convincing prose, he draws on decades of research to provide an up-to-date assessment of ocean health and an analysis of the issues that have contributed to the current crisis, including globalization, massive underreporting of catch, and the phenomenon of "shifting baselines," in which, over time, important knowledge is lost about the state of the natural world."-- Provided by publisher.