Is there such a thing as an interesting fish story? Lee van der Voo, managing director of the nonprofit journalism studio InvestigateWest, lost a bet on that question and ended up on a four-year investigation of a story with far-reaching consequences: the privatization of fishing in the United States.
Far from being as dry as the concept might sound, The Fish Market is a scintillating and often chilling look at the strange partnership between the environmental lobby and conservative big money. "Catch shares" are licenses to harvest specific quotas based on catch history. On the plus side, catch shares result in sustainable fishing without the derby-style competition that frequently had tragic consequences for fishermen and for species killed by accident.
The other side of the coin isn't as shiny. Fishing is a giant industry ($5.5 billion in seafood sits off U.S. coasts alone), and licenses are transferable, leading to the creation of powerful water landlords. Rights-based fishing locks fishermen off the sea entirely when they can't afford to sustain their businesses. As a result, small towns with centuries of cultural fishing history are disappearing (44 Alaskan villages have lost 82% of their catch). Sadly, safety often still suffers because of the impersonal connection between corporate license-holders and crews.
Van der Voo presents the many-sided tug-of-war with an even-handed reporter's approach and acknowledges there is no easy answer. The Fish Market does answer the question about the existence of an interesting fish story, and it's a resounding yes. --Lauren O'Brien of Malcolm Avenue Review