The Catch

How Fishing Companies Reinvented Slavery and Plunder the Oceans

By: Michael Field

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Paperback | 1 November 2014 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
240 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2 x 14.9 x 21.9

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$69.75

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In November 2008, near Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, a Korean ship came upon a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Tai Ching 21 was eerily silent. The lifeboat and three rafts were missing, and so were all 29 Taiwanese officers and Chinese, Indonesian, and Filipino crew who had been aboard. A quest to discover the identities of the lost men led New Zealand journalist Michael Field into a dark world of foreign-flagged vessels fishing in the ocean as far south as Antarctica. In The Catch he reveals what he discovered: horrifying examples of modern slavery in which men from poor countries are trapped on filthy, unsafe ships, treated brutally by captains and officers, and receive little or no pay. The fishing companies Field lays bare are ruthless. Their irresponsible and often illegal fishing practices are stripping the world's seas and threatening the food supply of people everywhere, propelling us towards one of the environmental tragedies of our times. These stories play out on the waters of New Zealand and the Pacific, but the same practices are happening all over the world. Can we ignore the fates both of these men and the catch they fish for?

Industry Reviews

"Michael Field's narrative of slavery and other illegal practices in the deep-sea fishing industry is both enlightening and horrifying." -Christina Stringer, University of Auckland Business School

"This bold book takes the reader into the heart of the secretive fishing industry to expose the ugly truth about its out-of-sight out-of-mind activities. You will no longer look at the fish on your plate in the same way." -Glenn Simmons, New Zealand Asia Institute

"Abuse of fishing crews is reported globally. Field vividly documents it in an unexpected area - New Zealand territorial waters." -Jennifer Burn, director, Anti-Slavery Australia

"Veteran journalist Michael Field is among the few people who can truly say they've helped change the world we live in." -Rose Cawley, Auckland City Harbour News

"This is a well-researched and comprehensive account of the ecological and human costs of exploitation in New Zealand's and the global maritime sector. Michael Field pulls no punches in this book, which is investigative journalism at its best." -Victor Billot, Otago Daily Times

"Michael Field is a journo from the old school, chasing hard news by drilling down through the layers of corporate BS. Through sheer hard work and sniffing out leads, he has come up with the goods. This is hard-edged journalism, not once-over news presented for its entertainment value only." -New Zealand Fishing News

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