Mark Kurlansky's 'fish tale' covers 400 years of American history as well as world history to show us how one a significant change in one species can affect the entire nation. However, the Basques kept this a secret and never really claimed their fair share of the fish. Lawrence River, had1000 Basque fishing vessels. In 1534,an explorer by the name of Jacques Cartier found that the St. They preserved the caught fish by drying and salting, as a source of food during the long sea voyages. The Basques were the first people to fish for cod.

In the book we find out that the better survivor for hundreds of years, is not the codfish but the cod fisherman.

In one year 'eighty-four trawlers - sixty-nine British and fifteen German - lost their nets' to an Icelandic Coast Guard vessel towing a 'trawl wire cutter.' (Cod) This did initiate the American Revolution in the other continent.Ĭodfish effected Iceland's entire population from the Middle Ages to the middle class in the 1970s when they formed a restriction on the fishing area to fifty miles along its coast. They did not think that the government had the right to intervene in how they exploited the fishing industry to make money. This gigantic market created a 'codfish aristocracy' for New England fishermen, who became wealthy colonists living lavish lifestyles. The author tells us that for about two hundred and fifty years, nearly 60 per cent of the all the fish eaten in Europe was cod. The author uses facts and figures to present information in a unique manner to the reader about the type of world crisis the humble cod fish will be experiencing. This is rather different from most books because it uses conventional thinking to illustrate the wars, and other conflicts that plague our society. Mark Kurlansky, author of the book Cod, uses his writing skills to show us the history of the world through the eyes of the codfish. The moral of the story is that man is the main destructor of the world but fails to take appropriate action when it is really required and realizes when nothing can really be done. The author takes a look at how the countries that once flourished on their fishing industries are now really worried because of fact that the fish is near extinction.

Cod by mark kurlansky