What Will Be the Catch of the Day?

Human appetites have devastated the marine world, but at last we're searching for ways to protect the oceans' bounty

If we continue, at our present rate, to strip-mine the sea of its living resources, 25 years from now we'll be lucky to find a seafood menu that offers a rock sandwich with a side order of kelp. Consider the swordfish: angler's prize, gourmet's delight, fisherman's livelihood. In the mid-'60s, when I was in my mid-20s, I caught a swordfish off Long Island. I wasn't trying to; it took bait meant for sharks. The fish was weirdly, atypically lethargic. It didn't struggle much, didn't leap at all, just tugged for a while, then gave up.

It died quietly, and I watched...

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