Lament for an Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery-a True Crime Story

Patrick Colgan is the former executive director of the Canadian Museum
of Nature.

The collapse of Canada’s eastern coastal fisheries is one of the
outstanding environmental and social calamities of this century. Michael
Harris, an East Coast investigative reporter and author of several
books, has produced a detailed and gripping account of the decline of
the fisheries.

The book begins dramatically, with a description of the cod war against
Spanish trawlers in 1995. It then backs up and proceeds chronologically,
from the arrival of John Cabot to the current mess. Harris adroitly
weaves the histories of the fisheries into discussions of economic
overcapitalization, insufficient scientific research, political myopia,
global environmental pressures, and social devastation. Of particular
interest are his discussions of Norway’s far-better response to a
similar situation, damage to Canada’s environmental standing
internationally, political interference with federal scientists, the
biological roles of caplin and seals, and the related catastrophe of the
West Coast salmon fishery. The detail of the book reflects careful
research, and Harris’s prose is concise and energetic. There are
helpful glossaries of acronyms and terms but no acknowledgments and,
regrettably, no index or references.

To those of us who have spent time in Ottawa, this unhappy tale of
bureaucratic bungling and shortsightedness rings all too true. A final
chapter entitled “Uncharted Waters” emphasizes the absence of an
effective governmental vision. It would have been useful at this point
to remind readers of the core issues surrounding the environmental
crisis. Quibble aside, Lament for an Ocean is highly recommended.