Kings of Their Own Ocean

May 15, 2023
Journalist Pinchin debuts with a competent examination of bluefin tuna and the humans working to save them. Her account focuses on Al Anderson, a Rhode Island skipper who tags tuna for an environmental group, and a bluefin named Amelia, who was captured first by Anderson in 2004 off Narragansett and again in 2018 by commercial fishermen near Portugal. Discussions of how Anderson’s tags help marine biologists study tuna enlighten, but background on his childhood and relationship with his wife feel superfluous. Pinchin fares better when she recreates Amelia’s peregrinations (“Amelia spent the season foraging for tasty sand lance cruised past the skeletal remains of barnacle-encrusted shipwrecks like the Heroic”) and explains how the fish’s migration across the Atlantic disproved the prevailing belief that tuna stay near the coasts where they’re born. Elsewhere, Pinchin delves into how the demand for sushi in the 1970s nearly pushed bluefins to extinction and how contemporary activism has contributed to more sustainable fishing policies. Though the surfeit of detail on Anderson’s life distracts, Pinchin provides a solid analysis of the far-reaching consequences of human action on marine life, noting, for instance, that excessive fishing of tuna can lead to the overpopulation of the crab and shrimp they prey on. This is at its best when it’s focused on the fish.

July 1, 2023
Bluefin tuna are beautiful fish, apex predators that can weigh over a thousand pounds. Although bluefin are just one kind of tuna hunted as food, they are considered a culinary delicacy by many cultures and a top trophy catch for serious sportfishers. This account by investigative journalist Pinchin documents how twentieth-century overhunting and overfishing threatened the population, despite ongoing international efforts to curb harvesting. She consults with marine biologists, Japanese fishery personnel, and a Rhode Island captain famous for catching, tagging, and releasing tuna (while devoting lots of space to his personal life, which is somewhat distracting). The real star of the book is a bluefin tuna named Amelia, who was tagged and tracked over several years, and who completed an unexpected transatlantic journey. The descriptions of Amelia's undersea wanderings are where Pinchin's writing really comes alive, manifesting her passion for protecting all marine life. The author ends with a recap of current conservation efforts and a solemn reminder of how human actions too often interfere with fragile, interdependent ecosystems.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from June 1, 2023
An investigative journalist looks at the world's obsession with bluefin tuna. In 2018, a bluefin tuna was caught by a commercial fishing company off the coast of Portugal and shipped to Madrid. Amelia, as she was named, was like no other. In 2004, Amelia was tagged by a fisherman from Rhode Island. Three years later, she was tagged by a group working with marine scientist Molly Lutcavage off the coast of Cape Cod. This period marked one of the "longest tag recovery records of any pelagic fish." Named after Amelia Earhart, this fish had also crossed the Atlantic Ocean, defying conventional wisdom. Throughout the book, Pinchin beautifully traces Amelia's incredible journey and the lives that intersected with hers, interweaving the history of the bluefin tuna industry and its staggering increase in production since the 1970s. Among other topics, the author describes the intriguing history of sushi in Japan; advances in technologies following World War II that have created the need for fisheries management; the illegal bluefin tuna market, estimated to be worth approximately 12.5 million euros annually; and "how one of the world's most ancient bluefin fisheries had grappled with modernity." As the author points out, "while the bluefin's precise vision and powerful speed were the culmination of millions of years of evolution, they were no match for the increasingly industrial capabilities of global fishing fleets." The demand continues to increase, and Pinchin shares her opinions about the problems that have come with "humanity's right to control the ocean" as well as the hope that has come from scientists working with the fish. "After spending years of my own life chasing bluefin around the world," she writes near the end, "I've ultimately come to believe that as a global community, we are collectively only ever a few terrible choices away from wiping out any ocean species." An engaging and fascinating tale of a natural struggle that will help determine the future of the oceans.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.