Sharing the Ocean: Stories of Science, Politics, and Ownership from America's Oldest Industry Mike Crocker Photographs by Rebecca Hale Published with the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance Environmental / New England Paperback, $20, ISBN 978-0-88448-306-9 7.5 x 10, 160 pages, color photographs Environmental / New England

"In many ways, it's a handbook to area management, what it means and how we got there. . . . Sharing the Ocean accurately represents the community of New England fisheries."
—National Fisherman

"A beautifully produced book with handsome photographs and an elegant layout . . . an important book . . . . Michael Crocker has tackled a topic of critical importance to this region."
—Working Waterfront

"Gives us a fascinating perspective of the current issues faced within the groundfishing industry in New England. . . . The complexity of this broad topic is well-crafted in the page of this book, which can be easily understood by anyone interested in the fisheries."
—Ellsworth American

"He [Crocker] makes a persuasive case . . . Compelling reading. . . . These narratives and portraits bring alive the values of those involved in the inshore fishery. They also support Crocker's thesis that local commercial fishermen have much to contribute to solving the fishery management dilemma."
—Gulf of Maine Times

Most popular and scholarly investigations of the New England groundfish management crisis have not produced very complex stories. Environmentalists and scientists are typically portrayed as the protagonists in a relentless struggle against antagonistic fishermen to prevent over exploitation. Instead, this book explores how an ideology shared by officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service and mainstream environmentalists has paradoxically sustained the ecological crisis and led to an unjust distribution of access to the fishery. A major goal of the book is to demonstrate how deeply the fisheries crisis and, indeed, most natural resource dilemmas are influenced by competing social values. Intended for a general audience, this book explores the ecological sustainability of complex biological systems such as marine fisheries, as well as the economic benefits if such resources are shared equitably. Using a collaborative change approach, the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance has worked with fishermen, environmentalists, and policymakers to come up with a shared vision for the future.

Poems Writer Michael Crocker wrote about commercial fisheries research for five years as the communications director at the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance. He attended Bates College where he studied anthropology and the University of Montana Graduate School of Journalism. He is a frequent consultant on fisheries issues.