Kings of Their Own Ocean
Knopf Canada, April 2023
In the fall of 2018, a curious thing happened: a 642 pound tuna was caught off the coast of Portugal, and embedded within her silver scaled back lay a piece of plastic with a string of numbers and the word REWARD printed on it. It was a fish tag, containing critical data about the fish’s growth, spawning, and travel patterns. Catching any tagged fish is exciting, as the record can be used by scientists to predict the future health, or struggle, of a species. But catching this particular fish? Well, to fishery scientists, it was “like Christmas” – because not one but two tags had been pushed into this fish’s flesh over the years, making her the most useful tuna in tagging history.
Dubbed Amelia (for her transatlantic journey), this fish was first caught off the New England coast by an enigmatic fisherman named Al Anderson. Though a lifelong professional fisherman, Anderson did not see fish simply as a means to a paycheck. Rather, he understood that his own livelihood depended on that of the fish he caught. Al’s obsession – he tagged over 60,000 fish in his lifetime! – made him just as many enemies as it did friends, as he existed in the unique and often tense space between a booming Bluefin Tuna industry and science-fueled conservation efforts. An ambitious, interdisciplinary narrative, KINGS OF THEIR OWN OCEAN: One Fish, Her Fishermen and the Fight Over the Future of Our Seas uses the fascinating lives of Amelia and Al Anderson to explore how our insatiable appetite for tuna transformed a cottage industry into a global force (with a billion dollar black market) and the dangerous effects of that shift as our planet continues to warm. If we don’t understand how tuna live, breed, and move around, especially in this era of increasing climate change, then we run the risk of watching them vanish like Atlantic cod and wild Atlantic Salmon.
As Pinchin writes, “now is the moment when we will get to choose whether we want to live in a world with tuna — or not.” It’s not too late to preserve the beauty and abundance of our oceans, but we must act now. Expertly researched and cinematically written, KINGS OF THEIR OWN OCEAN is a perfect read for fans of Paul Greenberg, Mark Kurlansky, and Susan Orlean.