A Naturalist Goes Fishing: Casting in Fragile Waters from the Gulf of Mexico to New Zealand's South Island

by James McClintock

Overview

In the tradition of fishing classics, A Naturalist Goes Fishing combines elements of the triumph between fisher and fish, humor and wit, and a passionate concern for the natural environment.

James McClintock takes us to some of the most breathtaking waters the world has to offer while capturing the drama and serendipity in the beloved sport of fishing. We follow him and his fishing buddies and professional guides, as he fishes off the marshy barrier islands of Louisiana, teeming with life but also ravaged by recent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill. We travel to the remote waters of New Zealand's Stewart Island, where the commercial fishing industry is fast disappearing; fish for gigantic Antarctic toothfish through a drilled ice hole at McMurdo Station; and scout for spotted bass on Alabama's Cahaba River, which has the highest diversity of fresh water fish in North America. As we take this global journey, we see how sea level rise, erosion, pollution, water acidification, and overfishing each cause damage.

This strikingly beautiful narrative is a must read for anglers and nature lovers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250257932
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/27/2015
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,035,052
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

James McClintock is one of the world's foremost experts on Antarctica, and currently the Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the author of Lost Antarctica. McClintock has appeared on local, national, and international public radio, CNN news, and the Weather Channel. He has been quoted in National Geographic, Discover Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and others. Each year he leads a philanthropic cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula, sponsored by Abercrombie and Kent. McClintock Point , a body of land on the north side of the entrance of Explorer's Cove on the Scott Coast of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, was named in honor of his research.

Table of Contents

Foreward
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Chandeleur Islands: Speckled Sea Trout
Chapter 2 Manitoba: Lake Trout
Chapter 3 The Cahaba River: Spotted Bass
Chapter 4 Gulf of Mexico: Yellowfin Tuna
Chapter 5 Antarctica: Toothfish
Chapter 6 New Zealand: Rainbow Trout
Chapter 7 Bahamas: Bonefish
Chapter 8 Costa Rica: Tarpon
Chapter 9 France: Anchovies
Chapter 10 Fishing for Solutions: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going

Editorial Reviews

"The surprising ease which McClintock moves between description and narration is one of the delights of this book...belongs with the works of the Jacques Cousteaus and E.O. Wilsons of the world." —The Anniston Star

"Excellent...I can’t think of a fishing book I’ve read that I’ve enjoyed more." —The Nature Conservancy blog

"Outstanding...you needn't be a fisherman to enjoy reading A Naturalist Goes Fishing and learning about fishes of the world, their natural habitats and human impacts on their environments and populations." —Tuscaloosa News

"People who fish will...relish [McClintock's] detail." —Minneapolis StarTribune

"An avid fisherman and conservationist romanticizes his beloved waterbound sport, while providing a stark reminder of the ocean’s need to be protected." —Coastal Living

"As you read McClintock’s riveting accounts and imagine the thrill of the fish on the line, you barely realize how much information you’re soaking up. Don’t throw this book back. It’s a keeper." —Science News

“McClintock, a marine biologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, combines work and play as he brings together tales of his professional career studying underwater habitats and a lifetime of recreational fishing.” —Publisher's Weekly

“Like all the best nonfiction, A Naturalist Goes Fishing is at once intimate and global. James McClintock shares with readers his immense knowledge of - and deep love for - the world's increasingly threatened waters.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

“In this unusual tale of outdoor adventure, the reader has a guide of outstanding quality: scientist, expert fisherman, and caring conservationist of the first rank.” —Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

“A veteran scientist and adventurer, James McClintock writes with passion and knowledge of his love of fishing within some of the most beautiful yet threatened waterways on earth. He issues a stark reminder of what's at stake if we fail to replace fossil fuels with clean energy sources.” —Robert Redford

“Enjoyable reading for sports fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

09/14/2015
McClintock (Lost Antarctica), a marine biologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, combines work and play as he brings together tales of his professional career studying underwater habitats and a lifetime of recreational fishing. Recalling field and fishing trips in different parts of the world, McClintock uses them as segues to more general discussions about the environment. For instance, a story about speckled trout fishing in the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of uninhabited islands 30 miles off the Louisiana coast, leads to talk of wetlands and “raw untamed scenery.” A year after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, fishing captains still hadn’t returned, McClintock notes, due to the danger of submerged hazards as well as the “demise of the speck and red fishery.” Similarly, accounts of fishing for yellowfin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico precede sobering descriptions of havoc wreaked by the blowout of the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. That disaster continues to affect the Gulf’s economy and natural environment. By juxtaposing personal meditations on fishing stories with more academic sections on such topics as erosion and pollution, McClintock entices readers to absorb his cautionary tales about the continued health of the world’s waterways. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

2015-07-30
Personal and professional lives come together for McClintock (Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land, 2012), an Antarctic marine biologist and passionate sport fisherman. The author is especially worried about the growing threat to fish posed by the increased acidification of the world's oceans, caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A fishing trip to the Chandeleur Islands off the coast of Louisiana evokes concern about the health of the habitat for the redfish and speckled sea trout that have drawn him and his fishing buddies to the area on yearly visits for more than a decade. This "portion of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, the fifty-mile chain of uninhabited islands, is a naturalist's dream," writes the author. He has personally witnessed the effects of dredging, coupled with pollution and the impact of global warming, all of which are depleting the number of fish and reducing their size. Nonetheless, McClintock writes with relish about his adventures as a sport fisherman. He opens with a story of chasing redfish and speckled sea trout. After a 40-minute battle with a "big red" hooked on his tackle but putting up a strong fight, the fish got away. His brother was luckier in his battle with a trout, which was caught, held up proudly for a photograph, and then released back to the sea. The author also writes of a four-day stay in a fishing lodge north of Manitoba in Canada, where there is "some of the best lake trout and pike fishing in the world." His accounts of these and other fishing adventures—in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and more—provide a lively backdrop for concerns about the effects of climate change Enjoyable reading for sport fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts who can look past any issues regarding cruelty to animals.

Kirkus Reviews