coastalcultures 
Fishing & Aquaculture

Coastal Cultures: An Anthropology of Fishing and Whaling Traditions

Baird Maritime
Author: Rob Van Ginkel
Publisher: Het Spinhuis

From Baird Maritime:

The rapidly disappearing fishing industry of the western "developed" world has become an increasingly popular subject of socio-economic study.

As this book, by an academic anthropologist from the University of Amsterdam, explains: "Fishing is not merely a job, it is also a way of life". That, probably, is a large part of the fishing industry's problem. Probably, too, that is why the industry is so easily eliminated by those who conspire to do so.

This excellent book looks at the culture of fishing and whaling. A culture that is similar in much of the developed world. It offers a very good analysis in the ethnographic and anthropological sense of that culture, its strengths and weaknesses.

Sadly, while it gives an insightful description of past and present fishing culture, it does not offer any hope for any significant recovery in the industry. Indeed, it seems that this culture really makes fishermen into their own worst enemies.

Ordering information:

Het Spinhuis
Apeldorm, The Netherlands

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