Imperiled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea

by Laura Trethewey

On a life raft in the Mediterranean, a teenager from Ghana wonders whether he will reach Europe alive. A young chef disappears from a cruise ship, leaving a mystery for his friends and family to solve. A water-squatting community battles eviction from a harbor in a Pacific Northwest town, raising the question of who owns the water. Imperiled Ocean is a deeply reported work of narrative journalism that follows people as they head out to sea. What they discover holds inspiring and dire implications for the life of the ocean, and for all of us back on land. As Imperiled Ocean unfolds, battles are fought, fortunes made, and lives are lost. Behind this human drama, the ocean is growing ever more unstable, threatening to upend life on land. We meet a biologist tracking sturgeon who is unable to stop the development and pollution destroying the fish’s habitat, he races to learn about the fish before it disappears. Sturgeon has survived more than 300 million years on earth and could hold important truths about how humanity might make itself amenable to a changing ocean. As a fisher and scientist, his ability to listen to the water becomes a parable for today. By eavesdropping on an imperiled world, he shows a way we can move forward to save the oceans we all share.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Canada, Science

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 12, 2019

Reviews

[Enid Wray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, but it did not fully satisfy. Mostly it was because I never truly felt connected to the stories… and certainly the stories never felt fully connected to each other… lacking any kind of narrative coherence or cohesion. Reading this was a very disjointed experience. It did not help that the first story - about underwater photography, which should have been fascinating - just came off as trivial, focused as it was on Hollywood. It took something I should have been fascinated with and completely lost my interest.

Indeed, on page 50, the author herself, in a discussion about the ocean writers she admires, muses on whether there is ‘something meditative about the ocean waves’ that ‘gave that writing a certain lyrical quality.’ And that, fundamentally is my problem with this book. It never gets meditative… and it lacks the selfsame lyrical quality.

Another part of my dis-satisfaction with this book, perhaps, is my own… a matter of expectation. A better title for this collection would have been ‘Imperilled Humanity.’ While the ocean figures in each of the ‘stories’ it really is much less about the ocean - perhaps with the exception of ‘Cleaning the Coast’ - and much more about the human tragedies - or not - that are playing out in, on, or near the ocean. I expected a compelling treatise on the state of the oceans… something that would be a rallying cry and wake up call for that portion of the planet’s population who are still in denial about the current climate crisis. I got none of that from this.

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the fossil record, it's clear that life in water came first. Early primitive celled organisms needed to live in water, while today more complex, multi-celled organisms evolved to carry water around inside us. p14

This is not something we tend to think about, although we would do well to remember, especially if we are still drinking bottled water. Without water, no life.

Perhaps it is we humans that are the blip. Long after we've disappeared, the water will hold traces of the garbage we threw away.....p208

Laura Trethewey has documents the inter-tidal zones, the coastal towns, and the fate of those who put their life in the oceans hands; not to mention the fish and sea creatures especially imperilled by our waste. Her extensive exploration has given her a broad perspective and she is full of surprises and even fun. But there is no doubt that she is delivering a warning.

The modern world tends to leap from crises to crises. p186
LT urges us to take a more thoughtful approach.

4.5 rounded up
6/7

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these engaging stories of life in and on the ocean, covering everything from cruise ships to sturgeon. Highly recommended!

[Jim Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astonishing book, and one that is not as dismal as one might think. No, there is some room for optimism amid all the numbers thrown at us by scientists. The optimism comes at the human level, that’s you and me. What we can do to make the waters we use (even if we don’t live near the ocean) that much better. As the author remarks, “The ocean is a multitude, linking us to one another and to every other living organism on the planet in unimaginable ways.” The Imperilled Ocean lacks only in one area: no photographs. No photos of the garbage on BC’s coast, none of the cruise ship workers or the houseboats that make up the “Dogpatch” a floating community on Vancouver Island’s coast. Photographs of these people and places would have made The Imperilled Ocean that much more human. Full review here: http://bit.ly/ImperilledOceanReview

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Imperiled Ocean is a non fiction book which reads like a short story collection. Trethewey brings compassion, and an eye for scientific fact to her journalism. Through her years of research she brings tales as diverse as an young couple crossing the Pacific on a sailboat, Syrian refugees crossing the Mediterranean, non-profits cleaning plastic from beaches, and a clandestine houseboat community. In all she achieves her goal of humanizing the ocean and calling for action to save it.

My favorite stories centered around the cinematographer and the sturgeon researcher. For the former, she dives into the underwater film industry. She highlights famous scenes and surprising facts about the complexity of shooting underwater. (Who knew that water scenes triple the cost of everything on set?) What stuck with me from this story was the encroachment of CGI technology - how close it is to reality, yet how far is still has to go.

The sturgeon researcher’s story focused on the impact of dammed waterways for hydroelectric power. When we derive this clean energy we cause enormous strain to river systems by changing water flows and preventing migrating fish from reaching their spawning grounds. The sturgeon is one of these fish. Made famous (to me) from the show River Monsters, it was a joy to read about how this ancient fish has survived everything thrown in it’s path.

Overall - this was an incredibly humanized, empathetic, troubling, and ultimately entertaining way to explore the ocean. Even for a land lubber like myself.

[Dak Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Imperiled Ocean by Laura Trethewey is a book containing many different stories. There is one about a refugee from Syria trying to Reach Italy by dangerously crossing the Mediterranean and another about life as a worker on a cruise ship. With this novel, you would learn information about the ocean that you wouldn't learn anywhere else. There is a segment dedicated to how a Kanye West music video was filmed partially underwater and how the model had to train to complete the task given to her underwater.
Even though it was cool to learn more information about the stories behind the Ocean and water itself, I prefer books with longer plots that take up the whole book with characters that last more than ten pages. I feel that we were not able to develop relationships with any of the characters because I only read about them for 15 pages max.
There was never really a plot that lasted more than a chapter because it was a book of many stories. One of my favorite plots however was about a man named Hassan who was trying to escape Syria because he was persecuted there. Another was dedicated to informing us about the trash and plastic crisis filling the ocean, so the plot was all over the place.
However, even if it wasn't my favorite it still had some intriguing concepts. My favorite quote from The Imperiled Ocean was, "Long after we've disappeared, the water will still hold traces of the garbage we threw away, the borders we protected, the rules we broke, the stories we told." I (Trethewey 186) I like this quote a lot because it tells me how water holds memory and stories and we should protect it and be better towards it by not throwing trash into the ocean.
I believe the theme in this book was to be more conscientious of the ocean and what we put into it. The trash we dump into the ocean is extremely harmful to all ocean wildlife and there was an unsettling statistic that said that 3 out of 5 fish in the fish markets in the Mediterranean contained plastic in their system. There is a lot about the ocean that we don't know and I believe that Trethewey thought the world deserved to know the mysteries and facts about it.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange book; it’s billed as “human stories,” which is very true, but the ocean oddly doesn’t feel like a character in many of the stories. When I think of how many fascinating human stories I’ve heard of living on or working with the ocean it’s bizarre to me that the author chose these. Filming underwater music videos, houseboat communities, and people dying on cruise ships just aren’t that interesting to me. That’s not to say that none of the stories were interesting; the refugee story was interesting enough that I felt like a small chapter didn’t give enough information, and I liked the story about the white sturgeon biologist. However, sturgeon is also a bizarre focus species for this book given how much time they spend in rivers.

Ultimately these stories weren’t particularly interesting, connected, or ocean focused, despite the fact that they all took place on the ocean (except for the sturgeon tagging which was done entirely on a river). There’s a two-page blurb in the epilogue regarding the impacts of climate change on the ocean that feels a little strange given the health of the ocean is rarely touched on in this book. It’s not wholy uninteresting, but I wish the author had gone a different direction with this book.

[Melissa Ruhl · Rating 3 out of 5]

My expectations of this book were unmet. From the subtitle and the description, I thought I would experience the ways in which a warming ocean is impacting people(s). But the titular "change" was much more, hm, normal human: a couple preparing for deep sea sailing, an advocate picking up trash, a scientist seeking data.

At the end, the ocean just felt like a particular medium for humans rather than a character or force in itself. It wasn't the ocean that was changing, rather people just coping with or seeking out change in an ocean-y context. I was disappointed.

That said, it was well written and most of the stories were engaging. My favorites were the one about Hollywood visualizing the ocean, the tales of life and death sea migrations, and the death on a cruise ship. My least favorites chapters were on sturgeons (she could have made us fall in love with the creature -- instead I relearned the tedium of scientific analysis) and houseboats (just couldn't shake a feeling of annoyance, for some reason).

I listened to the audiobook and sped it up more than I normally do. But hey. I finished!

[Luke Berryman · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Imperiled Ocean" is a fantastic book. There’s something impressively oceanic about Trethewey’s writing. She ebbs and flows seamlessly from one topic to the next, covering a vast range of subject matter with an academic’s authority and a public intellectual’s accessibility. There’s an urgent conservationist message at the book’s heart, but there’s also a wealth of cultural studies that scrutinize society’s changing relationship with the ocean in the 21st century. What does it mean to different peoples and countries? In her pursuit for an answer to this question, Trethewey connects with some fascinating characters, from Hollywood cameramen to desperate asylum seekers. Her interviews often reminded me of Werner Herzog; she never asks anything pointed or leading, and yet she always finds a way to aid the individual in unfolding their story. The chapters on the cruise industry and on coastal cleaning were especially gripping. Overall, "Imperiled Ocean" is an engaging, entertaining, and often very moving book, and it will appeal to readers interested in any number of topics. Big recommend!

[kiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book about oceans, I feel like the ocean was largely missing from this book.

Another thing that irked me is that, if I brought the same research question curated by Laura Trethewey - "What are the reasons humans are drawn to the sea?" - to my supervisor, he would have rejected it instantly. It's too broad, too vague, too all-encompassing. And, I found that the book didn't really answer this question. It seemed like Trethewey just chose the anecdotes that were the most interesting to her but didn't bother to shape them to match - or even answer - her research question. Like the chapter about the cruise ships and the case of Favio seemed to be put into the book just because the author thought the story was interesting.

I can understand what Trethewey is trying to do with this book, but it really just fell flat for me. The ocean wasn't a character throughout, the chapters were really disconnected and didn't flow well, and there were organizational issues within each chapter. Call me picky, but it just didn't do it for me.

[ROBERT THOMPSON · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put the book down slowly. I had just finished the epilogue chapter where Ms. Tretheway brought me up to speed with her stories of the sea. There was sadness here; of the world still not listening to the 'peril' she had described, of her youthful optimism mixed with frustration over the realities of our selfish world. In times not too far past, Rachel Carson, Jacques Cousteau and others had tried to show us the beauty of nature while warning us of our impact. This wonderfully personal work reminds us that the world's oceans are crucial to our survival. She talks of people who are like family, with the ocean as our home. A home we sometimes don't respect. A home we use for pleasure and gain. A home that deserves more attention than we have time to offer. I've always loved the sea and finally I now live beside it in my elder years. This book gives me new words to say a prayer for its survival.

[Hella Comat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much for this recommendation, Dianne! Informative and frightening for sure. I just wish that more people would take the time to read about these facts and what they mean for the future. The author certainly put the work into her research - I also found the chapters about plastic pollution in remote western Canadian islands truly awful.

The predictions that in the next ten years plastic pollution in the oceans will double and that 2/3 of the fish we eat will be farmed are so worrisome. And that we tend to be afraid of sharks but don't understand them as the canary in the coal mine. As a top predator in the sea, they represent a bellwether for the health of the whole ecosystem. Since they are threatened by so many factors, their success or failure as species will show us what's in store ahead...

[Lorenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desde el inmigrante que arriesga su vida para cruzar el Mediterráneo hacia Europa, las playas cubiertas por una marea sin fin de plásticos llegados desde los lugares más remotos, o la lucha por salvar de la extinción a peces prehistóricos amenazados para la pesca o la construcción de diques y presas, este libro nos lleva a recorrer los mares del mundo desde una perspectiva humana. La autora entreteje historias que nos ayudan a visualizar, aunque sea un poco, lo que representa el océano en la vida de miles de millones de personas y la amenaza que cierne sobre todas las especies que viven y dependen de estas aguas.

[Lisa Marie Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some interesting stories but they never felt truly fleshed out to me. I felt a lack of connection to them. I love reading about the ocean and generally I’m fascinated by what I read and I think a big part of that is because the authors of those books (divers, ROV operators, marine biologists) are so fascinated by the ocean. That didn’t come across here. Also the ocean just oddly didn’t feel like a big enough character in this book. And because of the title I expected it to be more about how climate change is impacting the ocean than it is.

[Jill Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compelling and beautifully written book shares case study stories of sailors, cruise ship workers, refugees, environmentalists and more who through life circumstances or career paths were affected by water. Through in-depth research of archival information, interviews and the author’s own experiences living and working alongside these individuals my mind was opened to concerns about the earth I’d never considered before. I highly recommend this important book. It will change your life.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book certainly delivers on the "human stories" aspect, and some of its stories were touching, while others, namely the photography vignette, were a little head-scratching in how it mattered to an imperiled ocean.

This book needed a more cohesive narrative on exactly what danger the ocean faces, but was good for showcasing how people around the world are affected by the shifting danger of our waters.

[Olivia Kabat · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully written, i loved all the stories how they captured a different aspect of how the ocean can be so intertwined in peoples lives - beyond just a source of water. peoples passions, arts, living space, careers... this book was a real treat to read, and should be read by everyone, especially those who don’t think the ocean impacts their lives. thank you!

[Jessica T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not normally much of a non-fiction reader, beyond thumbing through the New Yorkers that pile up on my coffee table. But this book pulled me in completely in ways I didn't expect. Thoughtful, human stories with science woven in beautifully -- transitioning effortlessly from the micro to the macro throughout. Narrative journalism at its finest. Highly recommended!

[Niamh Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this would be right up my alley unfortunately it just didn't deliver. The stories were long winded and disjointed. They deserved the length as all were just small chunks of a bigger picture as is, however the writing didn't draw you in and I found them pretty boring. I ended up skipping through most of them. If anything it reads more like a text book than novel.

[Abby Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eclectic group of story/essays about the ocean. I enjoyed each story--from the man who shoots underwater film to the migrants journeys across the Mediterranean to plastic, plastic everywhere in the ocean. It's hard to have much hope for the planet after reading many of these, but I felt more informed on a variety of subjects. And that's good.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura shows us how insightful and disciplined she is when revealing these realities about our relationship with our most precious element. The water itself may not talk back - but simply act as a mirror by reflecting what we are doing, and crystal ball in showing us what may be the consequences

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seven moderately interesting, well-written stories about people and water--not all about an imperiled ocean. Not surprisingly, full of predictable, weepy, hand-wringing concern. Interesting to read once but not to read again.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice, well written collection of stories about lives at, and affected by, the sea - with both environmental perspectives as well as social and economic ones.

Worth the read.

[Esj · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Trisha Roberson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anecdotes from different people, each with a connection with the sea.

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[rabble.ca]

Review by Daniel Aureliano Newman:

When I started reading The Imperilled Ocean, I worried that it would just add fuel to my grief and outrage at the state of the world. Having read it, I feel the inverse: I'm disappointed not to feel more aggrieved and outraged.

Laura Trethewey's lively book pitches human-scale stories as portals into world-sized issues, and each of its seven chapters tells of individual lives touched by the sea. As she puts it, "The ocean's story is also our own."

Keep reading: https://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2020/...

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good but felt like it was slapped together quickly and only skimmed the surface of the topics introduced.

Because I read the e-book version I didn’t realize until the end how short it was! If it had been longer and gone into depth with the topics I would have loved this book! You might like it if you’ve never read any books about the politics/lawlessness of the sea before, but after having read Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina I was disappointed this book wasn’t more in depth.

The chapters on the refugee crisis and plastic pollution were interesting, but again I wish there was more depth to the reporting. The other chapters I’ve heard about in more detail in other books already.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Trethewey's love for the ocean and everything inexplicably tangled with it rushes beneath her words. Yet she does not just approach any of the stories with a strictly conservational perspective: she takes all the perspectives and presents them to the reader, unattached to any of her own opinions. This is a real nonfiction - it is not an author crying for agreement, it is an author tempting the audience to action with the brutally honest and often frightening tales of those who live on the water or have their life changed by it. The chapter sections sometimes detract from the main theme of the chapter and the stories may not be as potent as possible, but the importance of the ocean and its changes is not forgotten. Laura Trethewey reminds us, with the introduction, the epilogue, and the middle, that since the beginning, humans have always been tied to the ocean.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well researched book on our endangered ocean. Laura Trethewey is an ocean journalist who worked at the Vancouver Aquarium. The seven chapters include facts and personal stories, four of which are Canadian based, but reflect global ocean concerns. I found the most interesting chapter to be about the plastic infested coastline of a remote Indigenous village on southeast Vancouver Island. Ocean currents and geography have turned the area into a giant sieve for plastics from all over the world. Another interesting chapter describes the efforts of a biologist and his team tracking the prehistoric disappearing sturgeon in the British Columbia’s Fraser River. The author toiled with both Ocean Legacy collecting vast amounts of garbage and the biologist’s team. Other chapters deal with cruise ship labour, refugee migration, hobby sailors, boat dwellers fighting eviction and underwater cinematography. An easy read, but very informative and frightening.