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The Future of the World's Ocean
by Helen Scales
The acclaimed marine biologist and author of The Brilliant Abyss examines the existential threats the world's ocean will face in the coming decades and offers cautious optimism for much of the abundant life within in
No matter where we live, "we are all ocean people," Helen Scales emphatically observes in her bracing yet hopeful exploration of the future of the ocean. Beginning with its fascinating deep history, Scales links past to present to show how the prehistoric ocean ecology was already working in ways similar to the ocean of today. In elegant, evocative prose, she takes readers into the realms of animals that epitomize today's increasingly challenging conditions. Ocean life everywhere is on the move as seas warm, and warm waters are an existential threat to emperor penguins, whose mating grounds in Antarctica are collapsing. Shark populations—critical to balanced ecosystems—have shrunk by 71 per cent since the 1970s, largely the result of massive and oft-unregulated industrial fishing. Orcas—the apex predators—have also drastically declined, victims of toxic chemicals and plastics with long half-lives that disrupt the immune system and the ability to breed.
Yet despite these threats, many hopeful signs remain. Increasing numbers of no-fish zones around the world are restoring once-diminishing populations. Amazing seagrass meadows and giant kelp forests rivaling those on land are being regenerated and expanded. They may be our best defense against the storm surges caused by global warming, while efforts to reengineer coral reefs for a warmer world are growing.
Offering innovative ideas for protecting coastlines and cleaning the toxic seas, Scales insists we need more ethical and sustainable fisheries and must prevent the other existential threat of deep-sea mining, which could significantly alter life on earth. Inspiring us all to maintain a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty beneath the waves, she urges us to fight for the better future that still exists for the Anthropocene ocean.
"A passionate look at how saving the seas is an essential part of saving ourselves. Scales is a highly respected marine biologist, and her books, including The Brilliant Abyss and Spirals in Time, are authoritative and entertaining. In her latest, the author turns her attention to the many problems facing the planet's oceans, from warming water temperatures to resource exploitation to pollution ... The author's writing is lucid and compelling, featuring a nice mix of personal experience and convincing scientific data." —Kirkus Reviews
"[A] thorough overview of the current dismal state of the oceans and the diverse animals who depend on their vitality ... [Scales is] a learned guide for this important topic, and [readers'] faith in her expertise will be well rewarded." —Booklist
This information about What the Wild Sea Can Be was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dr Helen Scales is a marine biologist, writer and broadcaster. She is author of many books about the ocean including the Guardian bestseller Spirals in Time, New York Times top summer read The Brilliant Abyss and the global bestselling children's picturebook What a Shell Can Tell. Her work has been adapted for screen and stage, and translated into 15 languages. She is a regular writer for National Geographic Magazine and the Guardian where she writes a long-standing series on ocean discoveries. She teaches at Cambridge University and is a storytelling ambassador for the Save Our Seas Foundation. Helen divides her time between Cambridge, England, and the wild Atlantic coast of France.
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