(From the front flap) These short essays have been selected from other writings, some reportorial, others more reflective on specifics of the global conversation about the future of the ocean and its implication for human survival. As time has passed, the conversation has become more specific, in the form of research science and policy suggestion, and more urgently, in the form of inertia, delay, and the failure of the global apparat to reach consensus, much less an effective plan of action.