Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans

The author, who began his career as a fisherman aboard commercial fishing vessels has a good grasp of where commercial fishing has been and where it is headed. He captures well the mindset of many commercial fishermen that when one species becomes over fished and is no longer commercially viable that they will move on to the next species in the water while they wait for the original species to rebound. Sadly, as has been seen in a number of fisheries, the exploited populations do not rebound as expected, and many fisheries that were expected to be closed for several years are now going on several decades. The "salvation" to these over used fisheries was to utilize aquaculture to farm various species. That was supposed to take the pressure off of the over fished species and allow a rebounding. However, as the author demonstrates clearly, the concept of aquaculture presents as many, if not more, environmental challenges than over fishing brought on to begin with. The question is whether the problems with aquaculture can be overcome to make it a viable industry. Many people are working on solutions, but it appears that new problems crop up almost as quickly as old problems are solved. The author is passionate about the subject and does a good job of presenting a balanced view of the environmental, fisheries and aquaculture sides. It is up to the reader to infer where we will be and how we will handle the problems. The writing is well done, but as others have pointed out, there are numerous typographical errors. I tend to blame that on poor editing than poor writing, however it does make the reading slightly more difficult.

Molyneaux is a good writer. The format of his nonfiction piece, "Swimming in circles, aquaculture and the end of wild oceans" is compelling and his arguments are sound. He sets up a straw-man argument of "the wonders that aquaculture promises humanity" and then systematically unravels the false assertions and mistakes made by the capitalists and politicians involved in perpetuating the altogether poor environmental decisions that belie current aquaculture and commercial fishing practices. The first chapters highlight the positive effects that aquaculture has granted us from an optimist point of view and it slowly points out the flaws of farming monoculture seafood at commercially viable levels until it seems like a worse idea than simply fishing for seafood. If you are of a camp that believes that there should be little to no environmental legislation or fishing quotas, you will hate this book after the first chapter, as Molyneaux is pro-regulation with an emphasis on sustainability. Questioning aquaculture as opposed to wild fish harvesting leads Molyneaux to study the underpinnings of globalization and international trade. There are some great insights gleaned from this road of analysis: we don't compute the real price of fresh water or overfishing. With that said, the book is hampered by editing mistakes. Molyneaux has missing punctuation in some entire chapters, (questions ending in periods or no commas where commas are needed) the occasional missing letters (low instead of slow), or format continuity. In chapter 4, "The boys," some of the "boys" have subtitles that sum up their positions in the field of aquaculture, while others, instead, have just a location after their name. Any editor could have caught these and fixed them to keep them from distracting a nitpicking reader. If you are an educator in environmental or life science, there is 4 page synopsis on the crash of the sea urchin stock in Maine due to over-exploitation that would make a perfect excerpt to represent what has happened to so many other wild-caught sea food stocks.

Paul Molyneaux is a former fisherman who knows what has happened and will continue to happen to families and communities who traditionally depend on fishing for their sustenance as the corporate fishing industry takes over. Is there no third way, that is, must we either destroy wild fish stocks or destroy fishing communities? I say this is a false dichotomy; we did not have to take this route of corporate fishing and aquaculture at the fishing families' expense. Like what happened to small farming in this country (and I suppose elsewhere) it is largely motivated by money, not conservation, if you look at the record. It is "efficient" say the supporters of industrializing the fisheries. Efficient for whom? Molyneaux (a fine writer) does an excellent job of digging out the truth, also in his previous book, "The Doryman's Reflection". But I doubt we can stop it.

I have finished "Swimming in Circles" and it has made a difference for me in understanding many arenas. I have a clearer understanding of the battle being waged between technocrats and naturalists. I am far more aware of the impact economic motivators are having on our ecosystem and their threat to sustainability. I believe Molyneaux has successfully balanced diplomatic protocol with journalistic responsibility. It is important to raise consciousness and at the same time I see, now, there is also a sense of urgency in doing so. Molyneaux's writing is an example of what is possible when a wild and youthful Kerouacian grows beyond young paradigms and doesn't sell out, but rather he builds on top of the worlds he has known and creates new models for enlightened living, freedom and fulfillment.