Every Last Fish: A Deep Dive into Everything They Do for Us and We Do to Them

by Rose George

A fresh and fascinating take on fish, the fishing industry, and our shared future from one of our most intrepid and entertaining nonfiction writers.


Slippery, wet and Fish can be hard to think of as fellow animals and easier to consider as food. But what do we know of these creatures on our plates—and how they got there?


In Every Last Fish, Rose George takes us inside the vast legal industries that support our appetite for fish sticks and salmon burgers, and the equally colossal illegal fishing trade whose practices and standards are unmonitored and often dangerous. From Alaska to Senegal, from Scotland and Norway to Massachusetts, and from the nets on the surface to the murky depths of the seabed, this book will transform the way you look at fish and change your understanding of what lies behind the inscrutable eye that looks back at you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Food, Science Nature, Nature, Animals

304 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2025

Reviews

[Naomi Prahl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Heavily researched with clear heart behind the intention, I have to give it that. But I have a hard time with books critical of the fishing industry that are as broad as this. Narrow it down, girl! Doing a tasting plate of all the issues with the global fishing industry (even if well researched and valid) reduces it to JUST what is wrong. It overlooks what works BECAUSE fishermen and scientists have worked in collaboration to remedy what they see going wrong. Had this book zeroed in on a specific problem and really explored it through time, it would have read as more of a true journalistic inquiry into a world and culture rather than “I, an academic, am mad.” The fishing industry is an ever changing world that is highly regional and specific in what works and what doesn’t so painting with a broad brush makes you lose a lot of info. A specific issue I have - the chapter on women in the world of the fishing only discusses women supporting fishermen from shore as wives and cannery workers, and how they changed the sketchy safety regulations. If you actually want to have a frank conversation about the problems in the industry, write about how women are on the back deck and running boats and are not taken seriously by the men around them. Again, a flaw of the broad scope of this book. My final gripe comes from the fact that in the final pages the author suggests that the most ethical way to eat salmon is to eat farmed instead. For that, she is deranged. Eat wild fish and fuck farmed salmon thank you and goodnight.

[Annette Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who'd've thought a book about fish could be so interesting?! Take a deep dive into every aspect of the world of fish, fishing, farms and fisheries with Every Last Fish. It's lively, witty, shocking, well researched, well referenced and easily digestible; an amazing insight. And in case you still want to eat fish afterwards it includes a helpful 'good fish guide'. Everyone should read this book!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it would ease into how we are depleting the world of fish, but it sure did not. Right from the first page it talks about how we are draining the oceans, rivers and lakes of fish. How they are illegally being caught. How inhumanely fish are treated, and on and on. I’ve never been one that cared much about eating fish and probably after reading this book I will eat even less.

The author goes all over the place in her research. She goes diving to see fish, out with various fishermen on their daily runs, fish and chip shops, goes to a fish and chips training facility, and so much more. Problem is that all of that couldn’t keep me engaged in the book. Fascinating? Nope.

A quick sidenote – the hardcover book is not 304 pages as listed. It is only 254 pages. Even if you include the Notes, Selected Bibliography, Illustration Credits, and the Index it only pans out to 292 pages.

Thanks to W W Norton for the free copy of the book to read and review.

[Jared Kolok · Rating 5 out of 5]

George's writing is clear, impassioned, and a joy to read. Every Last Fish is an excellent introduction or expansion to the fishing industry, depending on one's previous understanding of global and domestic (in the UK primarily but chapters highlight, among others, Norway, the US, and Senegal) fisheries.

Biting in its critique of how we treat fishes (plural because 'fish' "makes it easer to dismiss trillions of creatures as a mass") and the need to be more "prudent and patient" in how we approach fishing. The solutions, George argues in the final chapter, to overfishing, lost fishing gear, loss of biodiversity, foreign fleets driving enslavement and overexploitation are simple and recent international action (BBNJ principal among them, entering into force early January 2026) aims to help but more needs to be done to make sure consumers are as informed as they can be when making purchases and governments, researchers, and the industry can better understand their impacts and the actual state of fish stocks.

It is a wake-up clarion call to treat fishes more ethically and responsibly. George's writing is gripping and bingeable in a way few other nonfiction books have been for me recently.

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

British author and journalist Rose George brings us a fresh take on the global fishing industry in her new book, the aptly named Every Last Fish. Fish comprise a huge share of the human diet as well as animal feed, with seafood driving $200B in global trade and growing 10% each year. Yet consumers are left largely in the dark about what they’re eating and where it comes from. Through Rose's in-depth, hands-on research, she exposes the very real, looming challenges facing the industry, from overfishing and conservation to unsafe working conditions and regulatory challenges. It's an informative, interesting and necessary look into a relatively hidden world. This is a must-read for people interested in the food industry, our food supply, the economy, our labor force, and the fishing-industrial complex. It’s a book for conservationists and animal lovers, and for anyone who just wants to know more about the food that we consume. Many thanks to WW Norton for the advance copy.

[Jake Denelsbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the subject matter, of course, but the author's tone didn't sit right with me. And I struggled at first with the Euro-centric stories. I expected a more American view point because I am a dumb American. Very glad I read this.

[DaniPhantom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot from this! I plan to start fishing sometime this summer & I feel like this is a great book to read if you’re into fishing, wildlife or the environment.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent review of the fishing industry and its impact on fish stocks, animal welfare and the environment. It also covers safety on trawlers, instances of modern slavery and the welfare and culture of fishing communities.

It has been meticulously researched with the author, who is prone to motion-sickness, spending time on different types of fishing vessels to get insights into how it all works.

The impact of humans on the seas and oceans is truly shocking. Fish numbers are in a massive decline, modern techniques are too destructive to the sea-bed and by-catch, which is discarded, is inevitable and can include endangered species - turtles, elasmobranch fish (sharks and rays) and porpoises. Huge qualities of so-called 'ghost-gear' is lost from trawlers and these nylon and plastic ropes and nets can be kilometres in length and pose massive risk to the fauna of the sea. Animal welfare is non-existent and it cannot be argued that the fish caught, sold and eaten experience a good death - it's quite the opposite in fact.

Thought-provoking but not exactly an uplifting read.

[Laurel]

I think it is impossible to cover the entire fishing industry in one book, but George definitely managed to cover many corners of it in her approach. A mix of both science, including a look at what information and data it doesn't have, and personal stories of members of the fishing industry, Every Last Fish aims to educate the everyday reader on where the seafood they eat may have come from. I'd say she's definitely succeeding in expending my own knowledge of that topic at the very least.

From fish and chips to slavery at sea this was a book that was hard for me to put down. I recommend this for nonfiction readers interested in food, politics, fishing, climate change, sustainability, or even none of the above.

Many thanks to W.W. Norton for the review copy.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Primer Than Deep Dive. I read George's (nearly 20 yr old now) The Big Necessity near the start of 2025, so beginning the ending of 2025 with her latest release seems appropriate, right? ;) Like Necessity, this book takes George to several different places to talk to several different people and chronicle their lives and thoughts on the subject at hand - in this case, commercial fishing. Unlike Necessity, here George mostly stays in and around the British Isles, with a few ventures into other European areas such as Norway.

The overall text here is essentially 15 different essays, one per chapter, using wherever she is and whoever she is talking to for that chapter to glance at the history of that chapter's focus before primarily looking to what is currently going on in that area. There is little to no overall narrative beyond "I want to look at as much about commercial fishing in and around the United Kingdom as possible."

And yet, for what the book is, it absolutely works and works well. You're going to learn a little about a lot here, even as George has her own distinct editorial thoughts. On those, your mileage will absolutely vary, but George does a seemingly solid job of presenting the issues at hand in a mostly even-ish manner and never treating those she is profiling in the given chapter as anything less than fully human - for good and not so good.

No, where the star deduction comes here is the just-too-short bibliography, clocking in at 12% of the overall text, at least in my Advance Review Copy, and thus coming in just shy of the 15% or so I expect to see even with my more recent more relaxed bibliographic standards. Had George been more forceful or more novel, the Sagan Rule might have applied, but I don't think the text here warrants that particular application - through the vast majority of the text, George is relating what she personally sees as well as what those she is profiling have directly seen as well.

Overall a solid primer on the issues surrounding commercial fishing, at minimum in and around the United Kingdom, and something a lot of us will learn a fair amount from reading.

Very much recommended.

[John Brekke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like *Every Last Fish*, because it’s clearly well-reported and the subject matters. But I came away actively hating it.

Two things really sank it for me.

First, the tone is relentlessly bleak in a way that feels counterproductive. The oceans are collapsing, everything is broken, industrial fishing is a disaster. Okay, fair, I buy all of that. But the book offers basically no sense of agency or even partial solutions. It’s just a steady drumbeat of “this is fucked,” with no off-ramp. At a certain point, that doesn’t motivate action, it just makes the reader check out. If the goal is to make people care, I’m not convinced this approach works. I found the prose to be maudlin and blackpilled.

Second, there’s an undercurrent of moral superiority that really grated. The author positions herself above the problem in part because she doesn’t eat fish, but then reveals it’s largely because she doesn’t like the taste. That disconnect bothered me more than it should have. It ends up feeling less like a hard-earned ethical stance and more like a personal preference dressed up as virtue.

Put those together and you get a book that feels simultaneously despairing and self-satisfied, which is a rough combination. There’s solid reporting here, but the framing and tone make it impossible for me to recommend.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. Some of the chapters, particularly the more narrative ones were really good, but I don't think it lived up to the premise of the title. I also think the chapters I really liked felt like they would have fit better in a different book. The problems I had with the book are that the parts specifically about fishing is that she cares and writes about "fish" as a monolith rather than a really vast variety of stocks/species and she feels super driven by personal disgust with eating fish and a certain kind of concern for cuter animals over others that leads to weird takes. I.e. a sentence said it's worse to fish for krill in the antarctic than non-anrarctic forage fish because krill feed seals and penguins, even though forage fish can be equally as important to their ecosystems.

The book was fine, kind of reductive, but fine.

I think Naomi, who currently has the top review, has said what I feel about her losing nuance very well and much better than I have.

[Beauregard Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a generally solid primer to the ways in which the overexploitation of ocean fishes can be exploitative and deleterious to humans around the globe. The flow of this was a little peculiar, but if you think about it as a series of connected essays it makes a bit more sense. Still, I think her starting with the animal welfare chapter was very bold. I am also vegetarian and agreed with her sentiments, but I think she's going to piss off a lot of people right off the bat lol. Maybe it could've been structured in with the fish farming stuff so carnists don't throw your book at the wall right off the bat.

The book largely has a European focus, as the author is from the UK. I was disappointed by the lack of discussion about freshwater resources. There was also a collection of weirdly fatphobic comments throughout ??? That was pretty weird. But overall this was a well-written, thoroughly researched, and enjoyable read.

[Sheila Wainwright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy shit, what an embarrassment.

[Kasey (Mir) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn, whoda thought Id be getting this emotional.

[Roger Morgan-Grenville · Rating 4 out of 5]

A huge subject, bravely and intelligently tackled. If you want a good example of the tragedy of the commons then you only need to look at the fishing industry; and if you want a reliably good guide to lead you through it, Rose George is that guide.