Cod consist of three chronological parts: A Fish Tale, Limits, and the Last Hunters. The first of which is about the biology of cod and how the history of commercial cod has affected the world. The second is concerned with several aspects contributing to the decline in cod fisheries. The third consist of the steady enactment of moratoria, its purpose and effects on fishing communities. Throughout this essay the goal will be to critically analyze the text, this is done through several scopes. The first of these scopes being the books literary value, or rather how the literary techniques influenced the books message in its entirety, which will lead into an analysis of the book on a more personal level. This analysis will culminate with a discussion of the book in its context with biological diversity.
Kurlansky’s biography of a fish that changed the world begins the literary technique in media res. The decision to start the text of this book in the midst of Sam Lee, Leonard Stack, and Bernard Chafe’s adventure aboard a fishing skiff in Petty Harbor was great in that the occurrences there hint at one of the themes in the book. That theme being that the cod population has drastically declined and that human intervention is or may be necessary to prevent the extinction of the species.
This theme is revealed in the passages that speak on the topic of experimental cod farming, whereas although this solution has been scientifically proven as inapplicable. Human involvement in the issue is seen noted as centrifugal to the preservation of Cod.
The subsequent description of the cod’s historical significance served to relay the economical and cultural importance of this fish, or rather the instrumental value of the fish. The...
... middle of paper ...
...s to remove the selfish entertainment from nature and focus instead on its intrinsic value. This in situ approach to conservation of cod, although seemingly surface level transcends the boundaries of economic, cultural, or any of such approximations and places the value on the existence of the species. Another projected solution for the crisis of the overexploitation of fish is the institution of moratoria, which establish that a certain species can no longer be hunted or fished in this context. This in situ attempt at regulating the consumption of cod allows the cod for time to replenish themselves and their populations. Yet, this type of regulation suggests that all humankind must do is step back and let for the problem to take care of itself, and as has been proven several times before stepping back and letting things resolve themselves do not end accordingly
uncovers the truth about the fish, and how it and its environment was abused by the old
In this entertaining, search into global fish hatcheries, New York Times writer Paul Greenberg investigates our historical connection with the ever changing ocean and the wild fish within it. In the beginning of the book Paul is telling his childhood fishing stories to his friends, that night Paul discovers that that four fish dominate the world’s seafood markets in which are salmon, tuna, cod, and bass. He tries to figure out why this is and the only logical answer he could come up with is that four epochal shifts caused theses wild fish population to diminish. History shows that four epochal shifts happen within fifteen years causing certain fish species populations to diminish. He discovers for each of the four fish why this happened to
In the early 1900s people from Italy started to arrive on ship. They first arrived in Detroit, Michigan and later immigrated to Gloucester, to fish like they did back in the old country. Children, as young as ten years old went fishing to make a living for their family. When they first came the fishing industry was booming. There was no limit to how long you could fish or how much you could catch. Many men went fishing for weeks at a time. When Italian fishermen came upon the Atlantic off what is now Cape Cod, the waters churned with schools of fish. When they came nearly 800 of them in Boston and Gloucester combined became fishermen. In New England, cod was king. Enriched by a West Indies trade of fish for molasses, boat owners were referred to as the "codfish aristocracy. Sadly in the late 1990s the fishing industry went downhill and changed for the worst. (.)
Wallace, Daniel. Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012. N. pag. Print.
Generation after generation gathered food off the land, people are continuing to practice this in our modern world today. Societies expressly continue to gather their own food as it provides an inexpensive, delightful tasting meal. One of the techniques of our historical past that is still in use today, that has been used for generation after generation is “netting” fish. Netting is a classic technique that has not faced as many revisions to its practice. It persists from one generation to the next due to the fact, that many do not understand it to be harmful to the environment; others may enjoy the idea of letting commercial fisheries catch large numbers of fish as it continues to keep some of Americans favorite meals low cost. Devastating fall out from neglectful thinking about netting will occur in the future if preservative action toward this way of life is not taken. Minimizing the use of nets in waterways will ensure salmon and other fish survive for many more generations to come, allowing this plentiful food source given to us by Mother Nature to be exploited and enjoyed by our future kin. With food sources now readily available, fishing with nets should be reevaluated as follows; who is allowed to fish with nets, what are their purposes, and how will this effect tributary fishing populations.
In the introduction, the author has done a good job engaging the audience with emotions, and painting a vivid scene of the seals being slaughtered. This essay does a good job of acknowledging the other point of views. This essay also has a good, clear sense of structure. The author has a strong thesis statement, that gave a clear indication of what the following paragraphs are about.
Diving into the book I found that Paul Greenberg takes his readers on a journey starting from when he was just a boy and enjoyed the simple act of casting a baited-line into the water and waiting for a fish to latch onto the hook. “By the summer of 1981, I had a boat...and several thousand square miles of sea for my own use.” (3) After being hooked by Greenberg’s opening story, I learned that the four fish from the title of the book are salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. These four fish are on almost every seafood restaurant's menu. The book only has about six traditional chapters but four of them are dedicated to a single fish from the list mentioned before. Regardless, the book is still over two hundred pages long because Greenberg goes so in-depth with the story of each fish.
With a coastline of over 202 000 km and over a fourth of the world’s freshwater resources, it is no wonder why Canada’s fishing industry is a huge part of its economy.1 Canada exports more than 75% of its fish to over 130 countries worldwide. Many of the 7 million people who reside on the coast depend on the ocean’s resources. In total, Canada’s entire fishing industry is worth around 5$ billion dollars a year, being one of the world’s most valuable. However, the coasts have not been treated by respect; overfishing, over consumption, and wasteful practices has deteriorated, not only the industry, but the ecosystems and fish populations. This is a huge global issue; the worldwide collapse of fisheries has been project for 2048. Slowly, as the trends continue, we will inevitably see many fish species start to disappear. In fact, the ill-treatment of species on the Canadian border has already devastated a large specie, the cod.
To fish or not to fish is a personal choice. The fact that the oceans are being overfished is a growing concern for individuals, organizations, and governments throughout the world. In this paper I want to discuss the effects of overfishing on the restaurant industry, and possible solutions to solve the problem. Fishing is an ongoing source of food for people around the world. In many countries it is a food staple in their everyday diet. In more modern societies eating fish has become a sensual experience, and not just for the wealthy. It hasn't been until population explosions in the last century that the demand for seafood has led to more effective fishing techniques and technologies. Now the demand for popular fish like the salmon, tuna, sea bass, cod and hoki, which is the key fish in McDonalds filet o' fish, is diving wild populations to dangerously low levels. The methods used to catch the amount of fish demanded by the industry do not leave sustainable populations in the wild. In an attempt to preserve the fish population, governments have set limits on the minimum size that may be harvested and how many of each may be taken. Boundaries have been set up saying which areas can be fished and which ones should be left alone. A number of smaller fisheries have gone out of business because of the limits imposed by the government. This leads to even less fish being harvested and brought to market. Therefore the amount and varieties of fish at markets are smaller and can cause shortages for wholesalers and restaurants. Some restaurants will no longer have the variety on their menus that they used to enjoy. If a restaurant thrives on its seafood menu they may be unable to cope with the shortages and will go out of business. In the ...
A fish is a creature that preceded the creation of man on this planet. Therefore, Bishop supplies the reader with a subject that is essentially constant and eternal, like life itself. In further examination of this idea the narrator is, in relation to the fish, very young, which helps introduce the theme of deceptive appearances in conjunction with age by building off the notion that youth is ignorant and quick to judge. Bishop's initial description of the fish is meant to further develop this theme by presenting the reader with a fish that is "battered," "venerable," and "homely." Bishop compares the fish to "ancient wallpaper.
The fish withholds a great part in this book. The Old Man and the Sea is a book that’s about a small town where the residents revolve their lives around fishing. The fish is a symbol of beauty and it is a greatly admired creature to these people. An example from the book is on page 49. Santiago has been fishing for 84 days and decides not to return home without a fish on the 85th day. On the 85th day, alone in the boat, he manages to hook an enormous marlin, the biggest fish he's ever seen in all his life. The fish is larger and stronger than Santiago. Santiago's experienced fishing skills and his will to catch and survive push him to pursue the fish for many days and many miles out to sea.
Expository Essay: Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia is an author who was introduced to me in my English class, during the unit I’m writing this paper for. I got to read his story “Poor Fish”, which was an excellent story, one that I could relate with on many levels and was very inspiring. I wish to explain some things about Alberto Moravia, including his life story, works that he has written, and how the stories he has written have affected people.
For almost 400 years, whales have been chased to near extinction. Vessels have travelled the globe to find and extract precious oil and gather whale meat to eat. This has resulted in over 10,000 whales being executed since the moratorium in 1986. A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law and in this case a suspension of whaling. Also a ...
..."Not a Real Fish: The Ethnographer as Insider-Outsider." In P. R. DeVita (Ed.), The Naked Anthropologist: Tales from Around the World (pp. 73-8). Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
One might say we are presented with two fish stories in looking at Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, a marlin in the former and a whale in the latter. However, both of these animals are symbolic of the struggle their hunters face to find dignity and meaning in the face of a nihilistic universe in Hemingway and a fatalistic one in Melville. While both men will be unable to conquer the forces of the universe against them, neither will either man be conquered by them because of their refusal to yield to these insurmountable forces. However, Santiago gains a measure of peace and understanding about existence from his struggles, while Ahab leaves the world as he found it without any greater insight.