The Western Flyer : Steinbeck's boat, the Sea of Cortez, and the saga of Pacific fisheries /

This significant little book begins with the interesting story of how John Steinbeck rented a fishing boat, the Western Flyer, for a trip to the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). He assembled a colorful crew, including his friend Ed Ricketts, owner of a biological supply business, who was anxious to collect marine organisms. The voyage was considered a success, and Steinbeck and Ricketts published their account, Sea of Cortez (Viking, New York, 1941). Although this new book traces the history of the boat that made the voyage, its primary value lies in the accounts of the fisheries for which the boat was utilized. Bailey (Univ. of Washington), a former fishery biologist, presents expert descriptions of West Coast fisheries that were overexploited and eventually collapsed. The chronology begins with the sardine, once one of the world's largest fisheries, and continues with the ocean perch, king crab, and finally the salmon. In essence, the book is a valuable conservation lesson, one that should be read by every aspiring fishery biologist. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers/faculty. --John C. Briggs, emeritus, Oregon State University

In 1940, John Steinbeck and his friend marine biologist Edward Ricketts chartered the fishing boat Western Flyer to collect marine specimens in the Sea of Cortez located between the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland. The diversion of the Colorado River to irrigate agricultural land instead of flowing into the sea was about to change the sea's environment. Steinbeck's The Sea of Cortez, coauthored with Ricketts in 1941, describes the marine life of the area and includes a catalog of species. Using the subsequent career of the Western Flyer, -Bailey (NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Ctr. Senior Scientist) chronicles its use in the sardine, Pacific Ocean perch, tuna, Alaska king crab, and salmon fisheries along the Pacific coast. As fish populations of each species became depleted, the boat was adapted to the next. Overfishing, the use of bottom trawlers, the consequences of dams on rivers, environmental degradation on land, and competition from Japanese and Soviet factory boats contributed to the collapse of each fishery. Interspersed with quotations from Steinbeck, as Philip Hoare's The Whale references Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, this well-written book will appeal to readers concerned with fishery conservation and the importance of fishing to the local economy. VERDICT Of interest both to Steinbeck fans and readers of Paul Greenberg's Four Fish. Photographs of the Western Flyer and a 15-page bibliography of scientific and literary references are included.-Judith B. Barnett, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Kingston © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.