Ocean Book of the Month
Every month, The Ocean Project highlights a book focused on our blue planet or environmental sustainability. Books for all age groups will be covered, non-fiction and fiction, prose and poetry. If you have a suggestion, please let us know.
The Most Important Fish in the Sea:
Menhaden and America
By H. Bruce Franklin
The Most Important Fish in the Sea is a fascinating read providing a clear example of the significance of all beings in marine food webs — not just the fish we humans choose to eat or the microscopic plankton which make up the largest biomass in the ocean. Franklin's book revolves around the needs and behaviors of marine communities and ties much to one particular fish: the menhaden. Menhaden eat algae and algae cause distress to marine communities through non-point pollution sources that feed them to great, blooming populations. Upon being convinced upon their usefulness to mankind, the reader learns about where menhaden end up when fished to impressive numbers. Menhaden become ingredients in pet food, soaps, linoleum, lipstick, and other valuable commodities.
Menhaden runs vary in size from year to year as they head up and down North American streams as part of their yearly cycle. Upon reading this book, you'll be much more interested in rushing out to see them should you hear of their return in your community or a place nearby. Or, perhaps, you'll become enthused to investigate all the other interesting, yet less heard of, members of our marine food webs.
As promoted by his colleagues at Rutgers University:
In Franklin's vibrant prose, the decline of a once ubiquitous fish becomes an adventure story, an exploration of the U.S. economic and political system, a groundbreaking history of America's emerging ecological consciousness, and an inspiring vision of the rapidly growing alliance between environmentalists and recreational anglers determined to save our most important fish.
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Check out the author's Discover Magazine article on menhaden.
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Find out how you can help do more at the Seas the Day action pages.
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If you are interested in reading this book but also want to be a conscious consumer, please visit your local library and check it out.
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If you have any suggestions for a future "Ocean Book of the Month", please let us know. Send us your favorite recent or not-so-recent read so we can share it with all!
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If you're interested in purchasing this book, and then perhaps passing it along to a friend to spread the word, we encourage you to buy locally and from an independent bookseller. Please click on one of the two logos below to purchase a good read and help The Ocean Project.
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