( 11 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 5 2009
The author G. Bruce Knecht broke the 100-year-old transatlantic race record on a yacht in 2005. He is a writer that has been published by the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times magazine. This book is in my opinion is a very good, reading group book. The stories of Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish, is told very smoothly and flows very well. This is one of the qualities that make the book appealing to middle to high school readers. The way each page is written encourages the reader to continue to read more of the book. I personally could not put the book down after just reading the first few pages, where it describes the way the Southern Supporter closes in on suspected fish poachers. It was a very addictive book from start to finish. The book was great because the conflicts between man versus man and man versus nature were breathtakingly epic between the forces of man on one side and the forces of nature's frigid and icy seas trying to stop them on the other. The other major conflict was the pursuit between the boats, Viarsa and the Southern Supporter and their crews. The author's purpose, to my understanding, was to inform readers about the human impact on the ocean's fisheries. It shows how overused these fisheries are and how irresponsible we are with our natural resources and what people are doing to stop that. It also shows how the Patagonian Tooth fish or Chilean Sea Bass as it is called came to popularity. It also shows, how lacking of morals, today's people are, for driving a species of fish to the brink of extinction just to fatten their checkbooks. It also shows, how most of the time, they are shielded from justice by hiding behind extradition by living in other countries. The goals are well achieved by a masterful telling of the background where the book takes place. It is said so well, that the reader might think he is being told a legend or a saga, not a real story from 2003. The details of the story make it seem like you were on the freezing deck of the ships. It also shows of how badly over fishing is when it interviews Daniel Pauly, a scientist about how the global fishing catch has gone down since the 1988. Its main weakness was that the book didn't have an afterword where it says what the people did with lives after the second trial like in movies. Did Stephen and Codington continue in commanding the fisheries ship, Southern Supporter? Did Antonio Perez continue to fish? It says he said he would, but never says directly what ever happened to him.
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Posted: Jul 10 2008
It's no secret that the world's fish market is in rapid decline. The 6.8 billion people who share our planet eat a lot of fish, consuming more than nature supplies in the world's oceans. In Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish, author G. Bruce Knecht tells a fascinating story about the illegal quest for a rapidly disappearing fish, and the frantic attempts of one nation to bring one fishing boat of poachers to justice. Knecht brings to light the enormous impact commercial fishing has on the world's fish population, and the complexity of attempts to regulate the careless emptying of the sea. The reader is taken on a chase through Antarctica waters as Australian fisheries officials attempt to stop and bring to justice a boatload of rogue fisherman with holds filled with Patagonian toothfish taken in Australian fishing waters. The antagonists battle icebergs, gigantic frozen seas, and gale winds as they attempt to outmaneuver each other, both sides convinced of the merits of their position and unwilling to submit to the other. The pursuit is one of the longest ever recorded in maritime history, and in a frigid area of the world where even normal oceangoing operations are fraught with danger. Knecht also introduces us to the Patagonia toothfish, known as Chilean Sea Bass in the world's restaurants, whose ocean population has been decimated by the public's voracious appetite for a different seafood dish. Suppliers have scrambled to fill chefs' increasing orders for a fish that brings big profits to restaurant owners and in doing so have created international chaos in the fishing industry. Who can fish where and for how many fish are never ending questions with unsatisfactory answers. So the Patagonia toothfish joins cod, salmon, tuna, swordfish and other desirable fish with less than 10 percent of the numbers that swam just 50 years ago. This is a non-fiction book of many elements. It combines a crime story with a nautical theme, complete with innovative investigation, hot pursuit, and courtroom drama. If that's not enough excitement, the book takes a serious look at an international problem. Public and governmental inaction with regards to our oceans and their bounty does not bode well for future eating habits when we may be reduced to eating "jelly fish sandwiches" and "plankton soup" as Knecht quotes renowned researcher Daniel Pauly in Hooked.
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Posted: Apr 8 2008
Quick reading. Great. Need to purchase and share with you fish eating friends. Open everyone's eyes.
