Customer Reviews

The Empty Ocean

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Richard Ellis has presented in "The Empty Ocean" a bleak tale of the overexploitation of a common resource- fish and other sealife. Unfortunately Ellis has not exaggerated the problem, which will eventually cause all of us difficulties. From the collapse of the North Atlantic fisheries to coral bleaching to the destruction of turtle populations, man has caused havoc in a supposedly inexhaustible habitat.

How did this happen? Ellis points out that the reason that fisheries are collapsing worldwide is because of the super efficiency of modern fishing techniques. In essence they can catch everything, or nearly everything, in the area fished. Radar, huge nets, long many-hook lines and huge fleets of ships are used to feed the ever-increasing demand for seafood, sushi, aquarium fish, coral and rare shells. Since the resource is often less than the demand, especially for high-ticket items like tuna, the profit is high and the "commons" are overexploited for current gain. Not only this, but the number of non-target organisms that die in the process is truly staggering.

What can we do to slow down the destruction? We can try to back sound science-based fishing regulations and at least lower our demand for products from the sea, especially for those known to be overexploited. The tragedy is that, despite our efforts, the oceans of the world will probably never be quite the same again. However, if humans do not limit themselves they will soon (as Ellis notes on the last page) know for whom the bell tolls.

Read this book- it may make you think twice about current consumptive practices, especially if you value your children's future.

Where Empty Ocean wins above a dozen other books is how it takes a bottom line approach, species by species and gives you the facts. Facts verifiable by the ever-handy Redlist(provided online by the IUCN). Ellis goes quite a bit further though, giving a historical account of each species. It is nice to know, for instance, why it is that the Sea Otter has ended up in the predicament it has; never mind that a friend of mine (oh my) was quite unaware that the Dodo was eaten out of existance.


Ellis makes each animal a story--and a worthwhile story at that. I recall sharing 'Wounded Knee' with a friend of mine who gave up after a few chapters saying he 'got the point', and while it works for literary criticism, it doesn't for historical or scientific criticism. I doubt that Ellis's book is in anyway comprehensive, but while most readers will grasp the levity of things very quickly, it deserves to be read in its entirity. I think the various species mentioned here (many in trouble, many already extinct) deserve that much.

Best yet, while Ellis does little to disguise his deep affinity for all those things that would make the sea their home, his arguments rest not at all upon this sentimentality, but rather on the instability of our marine-based economies as populations crash.

At least a dozen eighteenth century extinctions would read like this epitaph "Like the sea cow, it was ridiculously easy to kill and tasted good...", but Ellis exposes how modern methods are far more effective in decimating extant species than any whalers ever could have managed.

Possibly one of the most essential reads for an easy overview of the state of sea-going species, though readers with a greater interest will no doubt want to dig farther into the literature and on-line resources.

As a scientist I thought the book provided an excellent edifying view of our global marine ecosystem. The book builds an extremely strong case of the devastation caused by man to the marine environment. More politicians should read this book, especially the Bush Admininstration with their imbecilic view of global warming. The power of this book can harnessed in the classroom, by planting a seed in future generations for the importance of the biodiversity of life. Great book!!!

Richard Ellis' "The Empty ocean" reads like an encycleopedic obituary for marine life. It's an on going casualty list of oceanic life forms complete with well researched statistics designed to give the reader plenty of "shock and awe."

The book focuses on two age old problems; an infinite population versus a finite food source, and man's greedy Draconian methods used to enhance his own pocket book. Long line fishing boats with 60 to 100 miles of fishing line strung out across the waves dangling thousands of baited hooks is bound to catch "something!"

This book is truly a cornucopia of resource material injected with the author's personal caustic innuendos that serve to highlight his zealous crusade against the onslaught and waste by big corporations and sea food distributors.

A good read, but perhaps an even better source of historical statistics and research for tomorrow's promising marine biologists.

Ellis has put a great deal of effort into his topic. His realism and propensity to "tell it like it is" will slice into your heart and soul, better than any harpoon ... every thrown by Captain Ahab!

This is a truly frightening book. Most people are really unaware of what's going on today out in the world's oceans. Giant long lines nets and factory fishing ships are creating unprecendented damage to the world's fisheries. The odds are that things are sadly even worse than this book states. A few years ago it was revealed that the total world fish catch figures had been inflated as a result of cheating by China, the world's number one fishing nation. This made it look like things were better than they were. The only reason they got caught was that they forgot to rig the local catch figures as well. Think about it. China is a totalitarian state. Do you trust them to tell you the truth about what their fishing fleets are doing right now in the middle of the Pacific and all over the world? We need greater monitoring of what is going on by the UN or some other international body.

Informative book with a lot of provocative scenarios (the analogy of the Tokyo fish market and the piece of empty ocean is genius). The illustrations were expert and a welcome surprise. Much of the support for the imminent extinction assertions, however, are buttressed by seemingly Environmental Activists' groups. More balanced sources might add credibility to the general thesis.

I would almost plead for the general population to read this book. The information it holds is important for us and our future generations. Our ability to nearly decimate so many populations of sea creatures and almost overlook it becomes obvious when you read this book. Reading cover to cover was imminent for me, but it is also readily available for reference material because it is well organized and easy to read. Thank you Mr. Ellis for such a wonderful publication.

Enlightening Humans to our Environmental effects. Every animal has it's own eco system. What do we consider to be ours and where are it's borders in our daily life. Those borders lie in our minds, our effects are catastrophic in some cases (god-willing)they are going to improve. This well written book describes some of the tragic effects on our oceans.
-William

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It's certainly eye-opening, but I'd suggest sticking to books that tell you the facts AS WELL AS what we can do about it; you know, books that give us hope and motivation after telling us about the reality, rather than just leaving us feeling hopeless.

Such as "The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's are One" by Sylvia Earle. It's eye-opening too, but later shows us how we still have the power to save the oceans.
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Oh.... You cannot read this book without feeling like you are being butchered - but for every knife Ellis stabbed in me over the stupidity of human's unsustainable quest for all things oceanic, millions and probably trillions of oceanic animals die heedlessly.

I picked up this book because I usually get concerned when I hear of things human's are doing which are blatently wreckless and not sustainable. To be in South America and learn that the Patagonia Toothfish is going extinct, anochivies are being taken out of the ocean at high rates to feed farmed fish and Norwegians taking the northern Atlantic Salmon down to be farmed in the Chilean fjords where Salmon do not exist.. All of these things spelled disaster to me - and I picked all of that up on a tourist holiday down there!

But to read Ellis' book and learn of the true extent of the catastrophic collapse of oceanic ecosystems is a real eye opener. For at least 4 centuries now - that is FOUR HUNDRED YEARS - fishermen have been going out and catching insustainable amounts of fish. Cod... Salmon.. Whales... Shellfish... entire populations have collapsed - maybe not the first year they do it, but certainly within a few years or decades at most. And yet fishermen go on begging governments for larger and larger quota's - and keep being granted them, despite not only overwhelming scientific evidence - but their own empty nets are evidence - that their practices are unsustainable and if they don't stop fishing for that creature, there may soon be no fish to catch at all. Frequently, its when there are no fish, that the fisherman finally stop. Too little too late. Why is it we worry when we can see a dramatic drop in some charasmatic land-based megafauna and take action, but not when the drop is in oceanic life???

And then Ellis goes onto to point out that most of the death toll is due to modern fishing methods where nearly 70% of all caught by these methods is euphamistically called 'by-catch' and basically dies. But that is not restricted to the fish and the fish becoming extinct - it also includes marine turtles, ocean birds, seals, otters...

I cannot envision anything more frustrating than being a marine scientist, who is quite capable of presenting overwhelming evidence to support the steep and severe decline in just about every marine animal we know of.. and have the world so indifferent to it. The world should be hysterical over the decline in marine life, not quibbling and squabbling over regulating the amount of one gas in the atmosphere, something which we may tinker with, and still not know the effect on the environment for decades. But we can focus on our oceans NOW and try to at least save some of the species which are nearly extinct of extinct. Just as canniness has been applied to improving catch, there are some solutions which allow less bycatch - but they have to be implemented globally.

There is no doubt a mass extinction is going on right now, and there is no doubt man is causing it. After reading the book, you will probably agree that the majority of the mass extinction is going on under the deep blue waters of the ocean though - not on the surface of the planet. If we worry about our lands becoming bland with only a few fauna that are favoured by man, our oceans are going to be bleak and desolate in a few decades if something isn't done.

This book should be required reading for everyone who wants an environmental cause which action can have an IMMEDIATE effect - not one which takes decades to measure. This is a book which gives a face to the cold-blooded creatures of the ocean and its a boo which will break your heart.