Billion-Dollar Fish
The Untold Story of Alaska Pollock
Alaska pollock is everywhere. If you're eating fish but you don't know what kind it is, it's almost certainly pollock. Prized for its generic fish taste, pollock masquerades as crab meat in california rolls and seafood salads, and it feeds millions as fish sticks in school cafeterias and Filet-O-Fish sandwiches at McDonald's. That ubiquity has made pollock the most lucrative fish harvest in America – the fishery in the United States alone has an annual value of over one billion dollars. But even as the money rolls in, pollock is in trouble: in the last few years, the pollock population has declined by more than half, and some scientists are predicting the fishery's eventual collapse. In "Billion-Dollar Fish", Kevin M. Bailey combines his years of firsthand pollock research with a remarkable talent for storytelling to offer the first natural history of Alaska pollock. Crucial to understanding the pollock fishery, he shows, is recognizing what aspects of its natural history make pollock so very desirable to fish, while at the same time making it resilient, yet highly vulnerable to overfishing. Bailey delves into the science, politics, and economics surrounding Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea, detailing the development of the fishery, the various political machinations that have led to its current management, and, perhaps most important, its impending demise. He approaches his subject from multiple angles, bringing in the perspectives of fishermen, politicians, environmentalists, and biologists, and drawing on revealing interviews with players who range from Greenpeace activists to fishing industry lawyers. Seamlessly weaving the biology and ecology of pollock with the history and politics of the fishery, as well as Bailey's own often raucous tales about life at sea, "Billion-Dollar Fish" is a book for every person interested in the troubled relationship between fish and humans, from the depths of the sea to the dinner plate.
About the Author
Kevin M. Bailey is the founding director of the Man & Sea Institute and affiliate professor at the University of Washington. He formerly was a senior scientist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and is the author of "Billion-Dollar Fish: The Untold Story of Alaska Pollock", also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"With the clear eye of a scientist and firsthand experience out on the high seas, Kevin M. Bailey presents the explosive rise and potential collapse of America's most valuable fishery. Surprising and disconcerting, beautifully written and thoroughly researched, Kevin M. Bailey's 'Billion-Dollar Fish' gets to the bottom of how and why we decimate what could continuously provide substantial sustenance and wealth. With compassion and clarity, he points a way out of this difficult and inexcusable mess. All of us who eat fish will want to know this story" – Deborah Cramer, author of "Great Waters and Smithsonian Ocean"
"Kevin M. Bailey's 'Billion-Dollar Fish' captures the high-stakes international battles over the business and biology of Alaska pollock fishing, the most valuable food fishery in the world. Bailey's perspective is as a noncombatant giving scientific advice in a battle for money conducted on the battleground of the sea. Such battles have been and continue to be fought over many other species in all parts of the sea – for example, codfish, whales, tuna, and squid. This book provides an accessible and entertaining description of decades of hidden financial and scientific battles over a fish that most of us have eaten, unaware of this war" – Tim D. Smith, author of "Scaling Fisheries: The Science of Measuring the Effects of Fishing, 1855-1955"
"It is remarkable that a book describing one of our nation's largest fisheries has never been written – until now. Lucky for us, Kevin M. Bailey, a well-respected fisheries scientist who knows the fish and fishery better than anyone, tells the story of the billion-dollar fish that few know by name – Alaska pollock. Bailey creates an anticipation of 'what happens next' to the fish, fishermen, environmentalists, politicians, and scientists that makes it hard to put this book down" – Jeffrey Buckel, North Carolina State University
"Kevin M. Bailey turns his well-honed research and writing skills to explain how science, international economics, and national politics turned the lowly walleye pollock into the billion-dollar fish. This story will inform, entertain, and astonish its readers with the complexities of managing the removal of protein from the sea for human consumption" – Jeffrey Napp, Fisheries Oceanographer
