The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Kurlansky
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 22948
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0345487273
Dewey Decimal Number: 639.2097445
EAN: 9780345487278
ASIN: 0345487273
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The bestselling author of Cod, Salt, and The Big Oyster has enthralled readers with his incisive blend of culinary, cultural, and social history. Now, in his most colorful, personal, and important book to date, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a disappearing way of life: fishing–how it has thrived in and defined one particular town for centuries, and what its imperiled future means for the rest of the world.
The culture of fishing is vanishing, and consequently, coastal societies are changing in unprecedented ways. The once thriving fishing communities of Rockport, Nantucket, Newport, Mystic, and many other coastal towns from Newfoundland to Florida and along the West Coast have been forced to abandon their roots and become tourist destinations instead. Gloucester, Massachusetts, however, is a rare survivor. The livelihood of America’s oldest fishing port has always been rooted in the life and culture of commercial fishing.
The Gloucester story began in 1004 with the arrival of the Vikings. Six hundred years later, Captain John Smith championed the bountiful waters off the coast of Gloucester, convincing new settlers to come to the area and start a new way of life. Gloucester became the most productive fishery in New England, its people prospering from the seemingly endless supply of cod and halibut. With the introduction of a faster fishing boat–the schooner–the industry flourished. In the twentieth century, the arrival of Portuguese, Jews, and Sicilians turned the bustling center into a melting pot. Artists and writers such as Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, and T. S. Eliot came to the fishing town and found inspiration.
But the vital life of Gloucester was being threatened. Ominous signs were seen with the development of engine-powered net-dragging vessels in the first decade of the twentieth century. As early as 1911, Gloucester fishermen warned of the dire consequences of this new technology. Since then, these vessels have become even larger and more efficient, and today the resulting overfishing, along with climate change and pollution, portends the extinction of the very species that fishermen depend on to survive, and of a way of life special not only to Gloucester but to coastal cities all over the world. And yet, according to Kurlansky, it doesn’t have to be this way. Scientists, government regulators, and fishermen are trying to work out complex formulas to keep fishing alive.
Engagingly written and filled with rich history, delicious anecdotes, colorful characters, and local recipes, The Last Fish Tale is Kurlansky’s most urgent story, a heartfelt tribute to what he calls “socio-diversity” and a lament that “each culture, each way of life that vanishes, diminishes the richness of civilization.”
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Another great one.... August 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This guy can't write a bad book.....Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster and now this....a great run of writing for Mr. Kurlansky
 "From the beginning they saw fish as limitless...The only obstacles to catching more were the limitations of technology." August 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Walking the fine line between those who want to preserve the renowned fishing industry of Gloucester, Massachusetts, long into the future and those who see that industry as already nearly dead, NY Times reporter Mark Kurlansky examines the history of the community, its ties to the sea, and its very uncertain economic future. At the same time, he also worries about the future of the Atlantic Ocean itself as a resource, one now so endangered that unless the federal government institutes "overall eco-system management," and not just quotas on specific catches, it will soon die. The government has wasted too much time on short-term "remedies," he believes, and has done no comprehensive long-term planning for the eco-system on which the industry depends. Ultimately, the "scientists" responsible for the health of our ocean have made too many mistakes, and fishermen in Gloucester and elsewhere are paying the price.
Kurlansky describes Gloucester (pronounced "GLOSS-ter") from its earliest discoveries by the Vikings to its first settlements, emphasizing its colonial fishing industry, a time in which people would routinely catch cod that were four or five feet long and halibut weighing 200 - 400 pounds. Between colonial times and 1991, when the unexpected Perfect Storm struck, the city has lost six thousand Gloucester fishermen and many hundreds of vessels at sea, yet the fishing industry persists. The evolution of large trawlers and draggers, and the arrival of mammoth ships from Japan and Russia to fish just offshore, led the local industry to try to protect itself by getting exclusive fishing zones and the two-hundred mile limit established, but "[continued] stern dragging has endangered two-thirds of the world's fish stocks," and the prospects for the future look bleak.
Waves of Jewish, Sicilian, and Portuguese immigrants have kept the city socially vibrant, and the fishing boats filled with willing workers. Their cultural contributions and festivals, especially St. Peter's Fiesta in July, described in detail here, are part of the fabric of society and a fully-attended joy for the entire community. The city also has a long history as an art colony, with Fitz Hugh (Henry) Lane, Winslow Homer, William Morris Hunt, Childe Hassam, John Henry Twachtman, Emile Gruppe, and even Edward Hopper taking advantage of the special light reflected off the sea to give luminosity to their paintings. T. S. Eliot vacationed in Gloucester, Rudyard Kipling wrote Captains Courageous while living in Gloucester, and NY playwright Israel Horovitz has produced his plays in Gloucester for almost forty years.
Still, the community sees itself almost exclusively as a fishing port and wants to remain one. In the 1980s, the fishing community convinced the city to zone the entire waterfront for commercial maritime activities only. "Someday fishing will improve," they believe, and then they will have the land they need to expand. "Otherwise it will turn into Newport." With these zoning regulations in place, there's no possibility that that will happen or that tourism will become an industry to fill the economic gap left by the decimated fishing industry. There are no docking facilities for pleasure boats, and the extensive waterfront is a weedy wasteland with no new building and no hotel. In 2008, the battle continues to rage between the "preservationists" who want to preserve the fishing industry and its control of the waterfront and those who believe that a mixture of uses might better serve both the community and the economy. So far the fishermen are hanging tough, hoping for a renewal of their fishing stocks. n Mary Whipple
Bear of the Sea : Giant Jim Pattillo and the Roaring Years of the Gloucester-Nova Scotia Fishery by Joe Garland
North Shore Fish by Israel Horovitz
North Shore Fish, film with Tony Danza
Captains Courageous, with Lionel Barrymore, Spencer Tracy
The Perfect Storm [Blu-ray] with George Clooney
Gloucester and Fishing History Well Told July 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The author, in writing about the history of Gloucester, captures the feel of the city and its inhabitants well. Beginning with the discovery of the town, and progressing through the history, the author demonstrates well some of the ups and downs that have occurred in Cape Ann over the past several centuries.
From the history of the city, the author slips gently into the reasons that fish stocks are declining and discusses the animosity found between government regulators and the people who earn a living fishing. While not detailed, it does present an easy to understand look at the problems associated with fish stock management.
In addition, the book compares similar towns in other countries to allow the reader to realize that this is not a problem that exists strictly within the northeast portion of the US or with a single port. He also examines the effect of tourism on the towns and the problems tourism can create in working fishing villages.
This book is a good general look at the history of Gloucester, as well as fish depletion. It is a recommended read to anyone who is interested in the life style in a fishing community as well as how the fishing industry is in trouble.
For people who are interested in more detail on the plight of the New England fish stocks, and the views of both government regulators and the fishermen, I would highly recommend "The Great Gulf: Fishermen, Scientists, and the Struggle to Revive the World's Greatest Fishery by David Dobbs. It is a detailed look at the problems from both sides and goes into detail on the subject.
Another winner from Mark Kurlansky July 4, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Anyone with a passion for coastal United States will appreciate Mark Kurlansky's portrait of Gloucester. He captures the essence of Gloucester and at the same time the challenges of its fishing community. While most news journalists simply write off this great working port, Kurlansky leaves us with an appreciation of not only Gloucester's robust past but its link to today. The Last Fish Tale is tough to put down once you start.The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town
A poignant commentary on what is real... June 28, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
As I read the book, and as I sit here writing this review, my windows are open to the sea air and the shouts and cheers of crowds on Pavillion Beach as they watch the Greasy Pole Competition here in Gloucester, the competition that Mark Kurlansky writes about in the opening chapter of "The Last Fish Tale". "Viva San Pietro!" The cry goes up over and over. "Hooray for Saint Peter!" But these days the local fishermen here need more help from St. Peter to keep their way of life alive than to save them from dangers of the sea.
With his usual wit, elegance, and deep intelligence, Kurlansky has crafted a book that is fascinating on many levels. He begins his tale with an early history of Gloucester, including how the town got its name, and moves gracefully through the centuries salting his story with anecdotes about people that may seem like colorful characters to most readers but are friends and neighbors to me. Kurlansky talks about "Gloucester Stories". Those stories abound and flourish --- stories about fishermen and artists and writers and inventors --- each with their own particular perspective on America's Oldest Seaport. I came to Gloucester some 15 years ago because I was writing a book steeped in the maritime history of the Great Lakes (The Old Mermaid's Tale). I fell in love with a Gloucester fisherman and am still here. That is my Gloucester Story. It could be the same for many of the people Kurlansky tells of, the fishermen who came from Sicily in search of a better life, the artists who came because of the beautiful light, the writers who came because of the peace of the sea. For every story Kurlansky tells I can think of a dozen more but the reader will be given a delicious taste --- and no shortage of delicious recipes --- as they read this small, but richly varied book.
The final chapters of the book are the most poignant. What is to become of Gloucester and all that is Gloucester? Using examples of other fishing towns in England and France, Kurlansky offers possibilities and hope that Gloucester can stay Gloucester but one has to wonder for how long? In a nation that is so hungry for authentic experience that we have spawned and entire industry of "reality entertainment" (sounds like an oxymoron to me) Gloucester and its working waterfront seems too precious to be lost but with an economy in decline and a desperate need to broaden the tax base it seems that Gloucester could well turn into a parody of itself --- a working seaport theme park or, worse, just another Boston bedroom community.
"The Last Fish Tale" is an important book and Kurlansky has offered us much to think about. To Gloucesterites it might seem to only scratch the surface but there are other excellent books written by Gloucester fishermen, like Peter Prybot's Lobstering Off Cape Ann: A Lifetime Lobsterman Remembers or Mark S. Williams' F/V Black Sheep, to fill that gap. I hope that Kurlansky's book will find a much wider audience than just here on Cape Ann and that, in reading it, people will realize that, as he says in the final paragraphs of the book, "every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes the possibility of life."
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