Kings of Their Own Ocean: A Tale of Tuna, Human Obsession, and the Future of Our Seas

 
　　這是關於一隻巨大的鮪魚，以及第一位為她做標識放流的漁夫的故事。這隻以史上第一位飛越大西洋女飛行員愛蜜莉亞．艾爾哈特之名，被命名愛蜜莉亞的藍鰭鮪魚(黑鮪魚)，首先在新英格蘭被漁夫艾爾．安德森捕獲，然而安德森做了一件不尋常的事：他在愛蜜莉亞身上裝上標籤，並將牠放回海洋。身為職業漁夫，安德森卻沒有將魚視為單純用來換取金錢的物品，相反地，他理解，他的生計仰賴這些魚類的「存在」。作者娓娓道來安德森對於標記魚類的投入──他一共標記了超過六萬隻魚，這也讓他夾在蓬勃發展的藍鰭鮪魚產業，與科學研究、生態保護的努力之間，為他樹立了眾多敵人。
 
　　本書是一部結合科學、商業、環境保護的精彩作品，愛蜜莉亞在被標記後長達十四年的旅程，留下的數據資料增進了科學界對藍鰭鮪魚的瞭解(也讓愛蜜莉亞長成了約240公分、重達290公斤的龐然大物)，透過這隻鮪魚和在她一生中扮演重要角色的人們的故事，作者帶我們一窺鮪魚產業背後的陰暗面，以及氣候變遷、過度捕撈對海洋帶來的嚴重後果。(文/博客來編譯)

**THE INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER**

This is a tale of human obsession, one intrepid tuna, the dedicated fisherman who caught and set her free, the promises and limits of ocean science, and the big truth of how our insatiable appetite for bluefin transformed a cottage industry into a global dilemma.

In 2004, an enigmatic charter captain named Al Anderson caught and marked one Atlantic bluefin tuna off New England’s coast with a plastic fish tag. Fourteen years later that fish--dubbed Amelia for her ocean-spanning journeys--died in a Mediterranean fish trap, sparking Karen Pinchin’s riveting investigation into the marvels, struggles, and prehistoric legacy of this remarkable species.

Over his fishing career Al marked more than sixty thousand fish with plastic tags, an obsession that made him nearly as many enemies as it did friends. His quest landed him in the crossfire of an ongoing fight between a booming bluefin tuna industry and desperate conservation efforts, a conflict that is once again heating up as overfishing and climate change threaten the fish’s fate.

Kings of Their Own Ocean is an urgent investigation that combines science, business, crime, and environmental justice. As Pinchin writes, ＂as a global community, we are collectively only ever a few terrible choices away from wiping out any ocean species.＂ Through her exclusive access and interdisciplinary, mesmerizing lens, readers will join her on boats and docks as she visits tuna hot spots and scientists from Portugal to Japan, New Jersey to Nova Scotia, and glimpse, as the author does, rays of dazzling hope for the future of our oceans.

Karen Pinchin is an award-winning investigative journalist and culinary school graduate. A recent Tow Fellow at PBS’s Frontline, she graduated from Columbia Journalism School with a master of arts in science journalism and has since been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Sloan Foundation. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, The New Food Economy, Vox, Canadian Geographic, Hakai Magazine, The Globe and Mail, National Geographic, and The Walrus, among others. She lives, writes, and fishes in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her husband, son, and a tankful of guppies.