Putting our exploitation of the seas into historical context, Roberts offers a devastating account of the impact of modern fishing techniques, pollution, and climate change, and reveals what it would take to steer the right course while there is still time.

First purchased in the United States of America by Viking Penguin 2012.--T.p. verso. Published in Penguin Books 2013.--T.p. verso.

Part 1. Changing seas : Four and a half billion years -- Food from the sea-- Fewer fish in the sea --Winds and currents -- Life on the move -- Rising tides -- Corrosive seas -- Dead zones and the world's great rivers -- Unwholesome waters -- The age of plastic -- The not so silent world -- Aliens, invaders, and the homogenization of life -- Pestilence and plague -- Mare incognitum -- Ecosystems at your service -- Part 2. Changing course : Farming the sea -- The great cleanup -- Can we cool our warming world? -- A new deal for the oceans -- Life renewed -- Saving the giants of the sea -- Preparing for the worst -- Epilogue : The sea ahead -- Appendix 1. Seafood with a clear consciennce -- Appendix 2. Conservation charities working to protect ocean life.