Every Last Fish

A fresh and fascinating take on fish, the fishing industry, and our shared future, from one of our most intrepid and entertaining nonfiction writers.

"Much of what [George] shares will hit readers like a blast of shoreline wind. . . . humane and impressively researched."

"Highly recommended for those interested in sustainable practices."

"Rose George is a fearless and dogged reporter, one of our best. Every Last Fish presents a shocking catch of fishing industry misdeeds: dredging and overfishing, fish-laundering, shipboard slavery. But to call this book an exposé overlooks its word-by-word charms. George writes with heart, heat, and wit. There are heroes here, too, and reasons for hope, and historical characters rendered as vividly as fish tank wrasse (Fishwives! Herring Girls! His Majesty’s Trawlers!). I’ve loved all Rose George’s books, but I think I love this one most."

"From fish and chips to slavery at sea, cod-to-human skin grafts to the deadly toll of distant-water fisheries, Rose George’s new book is a penetrating and kaleidoscopic view of the natural world’s most exploited but least understood resource."

"Once again, Rose George, equipped with wide-ranging curiosity and bracing dashes of coruscating humor, takes us on an astoundingly eye-opening journey through the overlooked and everyday—this time the toll, in terms human and pelagic, of our consumption of fish."

"It’s hard to imagine creatures more different from us than fish. Yet as Rose George reminds us in this rollicking, often elegiac, account, our fates are intertwined. Every Last Fish deftly captures our shared story through the humans: eccentric, passionate, and trepidatious."

"Every Last Fish . . . is a reminder of how careless we are with our planet’s vanishing bounty of underwater life. It’s a warning of the consequences of such carelessness. But it’s also a story of our beautiful and fascinating underwater worlds and of the sometimes unexpected ways we try not to destroy but to protect them. In other words, as they say, a really good fish story."

Rose George is the author of four previous books. She holds a BA in modern languages from Oxford and an MA in international politics from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Thouron Awardee and a Fulbright Fellow. She lives in Yorkshire, UK.