So Excellent A Fishe

Humanity can make short work of the oceans’ creatures. In 1741, hungry explorers discovered herds of Steller’s sea cow in the Bering Strait, and in less than thirty years, the amiable beast had been harpooned into extinction. It’s a classic story, but a key fact is often omitted. Bering Island was the last redoubt of a species that had been decimated by hunting and habitat loss years before the explorers set sail. As Callum M. Roberts reveals in The Unnatural History of the Sea, the oceans’ bounty didn’t disappear overnight. While today’s fishing industry is ruthlessly efficient, intense exploitation began not in the modern era, or even with the dawn of industrialization, but in the eleventh century in medieval Europe. Roberts explores this long and colorful history of commercial fishing, taking readers around the world and through the centuries to witness the transformation of the seas. Drawing on firsthand accounts of early explorers, pirates, merchants, fishers, and travelers, the book recreates the oceans of the past: waters teeming with whales, sea lions, sea otters, turtles, and giant fish. The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth century seafarers is almost unimaginable today, but Roberts both brings it alive and artfully traces its depletion. Collapsing fisheries, he shows, are simply the latest chapter in a long history of unfettered commercialization of the seas. The story does not end with an empty ocean. Instead, Roberts describes how we might restore the splendor and prosperity of the seas through smarter management of our resources and some simple restraint. From the coasts of Florida to New Zealand, marine reserves have fostered spectacular recovery of plants and animals to levels not seen in a century. They prove that history need not repeat itself: we can leave the oceans richer than we found them.

Previously published: So excellent a fishe: a natural history of sea turtles. Includes index.

The Windward Road, published in 1956, made history. When Archie Carr began to rove the Caribbean to write about sea turtles, he saw that their numbers were dwindling. Out of this appeal to save them grew the first ventures in international sea turtle conservation and the establishment of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. In addition to sea turtle biology, Carr recorded his general impressions, producing a natural history sprinkled with colorful stories.

Archie Carr, one of the greatest biologists of the twentieth century, played a leading part in finding a new and critical role for natural history and systematics in a post-1950s world dominated by the glamorous science of molecular biology. With the rise of molecular biology came a growing popular awareness of species extinction. Carr championed endangered sea turtles, and his work reflects major shifts in the study of ecology and evolution. A gifted nature writer, his books on the natural history of sea turtles and their habitats in Florida, the Caribbean, and Africa entertained and educated a wide audience. Carr's conservation ethic grew from his field work as well as his friendships with the fishermen who supplied him with many of the stories he retold so engagingly. With Archie Carr as the focus, The Man Who Saved Sea Turtles explores the evolution of the naturalist tradition, biology, and conservation during the twentieth century.

Archie Carr (1909-1987), the eminent naturalist, writer, and conservationist, was particularly entranced by the wildlife and ecosystems of Florida, where he lived for more than 50 years. This book - which includes some of his essays - is full of details and anecdotes about the flora, fauna, and humans that have inhabited Florida's colourful landscape.

Learn about the life cycle of a green sea turtle and its coral reef habitat in this beautifully illustrated picture book. With backmatter on coral reefs, sea turtles, activities for teachers, and more, this book will be staple in your child's library or elementary classroom. Follow a tiny baby sea turtle named Kiki as she scrambles across the sandy beach and into the sea! Floating far out in the ocean, Kiki grows to become a gentle giant, and soon finds her new home in a beautiful coral reef. There she discovers fish and coral of all sizes, and learns how every creature helps out each other, along with a few other surprises: a gang of tangs helps clean the algae growing on her shell, anemones help hide clownfish from predators, seahorses use camouflage, and even more. But something calls Kiki back to the beach . . . and soon she lays her own set of eggs! Soon, she will be a mother to a new group of baby sea turtles. Backmatter includes: Additional facts and information: about coral reefs, kinds of coral, how sea creatures like clownfish and anemones work in symbiosis, kinds of sea turtles, and more Activities for teachers: including creating Venn diagrams for different species of turtles, a coral reef scavenger hunt, and more Additional resources: for further reading and classroom exploration, including the Sea Turtle Conservancy website, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation website, a biography of scientist Archie Carr, and more