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.