Description
Book SynopsisThis environmental history of America's largest estuary provides insight into how and why its former productivity and abundant fisheries have declined. The concept of shifting baselineschanges in historical reference points used in environmental assessmentsilluminates a foundational challenge when evaluating the health of ecosystems and seeking to restore degraded wildlife populations. In this important book, Victor S. Kennedy examines the problem of shifting baselines for one of the most productive aquatic resources in the world: the Chesapeake Bay. Kennedy explains that since the 1800s, when the Bay area was celebrated for its aquatic bounty, harvest baselines have shifted downward precipitously. Over the centuries, fishers and hunters, supported by an extensive infrastructure of boats, gear, and processing facilities, overexploited the region's fish, crustaceans, terrapin, and waterfowl, squandering a profound resource. Beginning with the colonial period and continuing through t
Trade ReviewKennedy has examined the Bay's past abundances of seafood . . . sifting through anecdotal evidence and early surveys to arrive at a sense of just how full of life the Chesapeake was as Europeans began to settle it. His book also pulls together an accounting of how thoroughly we squandered the 'immense protein factory' praised by journalist H. L. Mencken.
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Bay JournalTable of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Units and Terms Used in the Text
A Note on Anecdotal and Quantitative Harvest Statistics
Chapter 1. Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay, the Immense Protein Factory
Chapter 2. Why the Chesapeake Bay Was So Productive and What's Changed
Chapter 3. The Spring Fishery for Shad and River Herring: A Hectic Scramble
Chapter 4. The World's Greatest Oyster Fishery: An Expansion, Then a Crash
Chapter 5. Diamond-backed Terrapins: From Pig Food to Gourmet Delight to Protected Species
Chapter 6. Uncontrolled Market Hunting of Waterfowl: A Mass Slaughter
Chapter 7. Sturgeon: A Prehistoric High Jumper Fell from Memory
Chapter 8. Blue Crabs Hung On
Chapter 9. Have Diminished Animal Abundances Remodeled the Bay's Food Webs?
Afterword
Appendix. Fishing Gear and Methods
Further Reading
Notes
References
Index
