Book review: Hooked Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish

I recently read the book Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish by Wall Street Journal writer Bruce Knecht. Knecht chronicles the decline of the "Chilean Seabass" (aka Patagonia Toothfish) while telling the story of a dangerous three week pursuit of a poacher by Australian fisheries police across 4,000 miles of icy Antarctic waters.

The story of the Chilean Sea Bass is important and needs to be told. This fish and the closely related Antarctic Toothfish are very popular to American diners, but they are easy to catch and very slow to reproduce. Because the fishing grounds are in remote international waters off of Antarctica, management of this species is non-existant. Fisheries scientists estimate that over half the population of toothfish is captured each year, a clearly unsustainable level.

Other Chilean Sea Bass resources

• Read an introduction by author Bruce Knecth and an excerpt from the book at the Oceana Network blog.
  
• National Environmental Trust.
  
• Treehugger mentioned Chilean Sea Bass today.
  
• Monterey Bay Aquarium.
  
• Take A Pass on Chilean Sea Bass.

Tags: toothfish, seafood, fish, pirates, chilean+sea+bass