Select language, opens an overlay

Comment

The Outlaw Ocean

Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier
Feb 21, 2021Cidherman rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
What an eye opener this book was! THE OUTLAW OCEAN is a collection of essays by New York Times reporter tied together by one theme: The shocking exploitation of the worlds oceans, the creatures that inhabit it and the people that work in the world of shipping and fishing. Urbana spent years immersed in a world few ever see, and that is largely unregulated or where violations are not enforced. It is a shocking expose of a brutal environment of forced labor, indentured servitude and slave labor. The conditions are abysmal, filthy and claustrophobic, even when captains are not murdering or chaining people to the deck, some workers don't see land for three years and are kept off shore when they do, to prevent escape. The fishing industry uses a process called offloading to avoid regulation and make it nearly impossible to ascertain where seafood originated or whether the catch was legal. This enables them to fish far from home in protected waters (even sanctuaries) without ever returning to shore or facing any accountability or sanctions. Nets as long as 45 miles long capture everything in their path with three out of four species being flung back to the sea already dead or dying. The cruelty is unimaginable and has changed the way I plan to purchase seafood in the future. This is a disturbing and horrifying look at how we are killing our oceans. And how cheap "cheap labor" really is.