FOUR FISH (Penguin Press, $25.95), by Paul Greenberg, who has reported on oceans and seafood for The New York Times, is infused with his love for fish and fishing. But that love is overshadowed by his concern about protecting the habitats of wild marine life for the future, and he has chosen four iconic fish—salmon, bass, tuna, and cod—to illustrate how the ecosystems they inhabit are at risk. Currently around 90 million tons of seafood a year are harvested from the world’s oceans, much more than can be replaced by natural processes. Fish-farming, a short-term solution that has threatened existing wild fish populations through the sterile progeny of cross-breeding and the spread of farm-borne diseases, must be replaced by no-catch zones to protect natural habitats and breeding zones.
