"An Authoritative, Dismal Chronology of Fisheries Depletion"

Even the most remote stretches of ocean are being depleted by industrial fishing ships that leave destruction in their wake, and the best way to preserve enough ocean to allow battered fish populations to rebound is to set aside huge new preserves that are off-limits to fishing.

That's the assessment The Unnatural History of the Sea (Island Press, 456 pages, $28) by Callum Roberts. The Chicago Tribune describes the book as a sobering -- often depressing -- but riveting and important account of the world's oceans.

"Roberts, professor of marine conservation at the University of York in England, charts an authoritative, dismal chronology of fisheries depletion and mismanagement lasting for centuries," the Tribune writes.

The oceans seem vast, but scientific report after scientific report in recent years have described how small we are squeezing them. The once abundant life is being depleted, with major fisheries nearing collapse by mid-century if nothing is done. Some nations -- including the United States, which under President Bush has set aside new marine sanctuaries in Hawaii and elsewhere -- are taking steps toward realizing Roberts' vision, but he makes plain that much more needs to be done, if the oceans are to produce as much life -- and food -- as they once did.

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