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An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World |  | Author: Mark Anders Halverson
Publisher: Yale University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
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Seller: olympia77
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 85032
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 0300140878
Dewey Decimal Number: 639.3757
EAN: 9780300140873
ASIN: 0300140878
Publication Date: March 2, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Anders Halverson provides an exhaustively researched and grippingly rendered account of the rainbow trout and why it has become the most commonly stocked and controversial freshwater fish in the United States. Discovered in the remote waters of northern California, rainbow trout have been artificially propagated and distributed for more than 130 years by government officials eager to present Americans with an opportunity to get back to nature by going fishing. Proudly dubbed “an entirely synthetic fish” by fisheries managers, the rainbow trout has been introduced into every state and province in the United States and Canada and to every continent except Antarctica, often with devastating effects on the native fauna. Halverson examines the paradoxes and reveals a range of characters, from nineteenth-century boosters who believed rainbows could be the saviors of democracy to twenty-first-century biologists who now seek to eradicate them from waters around the globe. Ultimately, the story of the rainbow trout is the story of our relationship with the natural world—how it has changed and how it startlingly has not. (20100301)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
Excellent history of stocking rainbow trout June 26, 2010
R. Spencer (So Cal)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book has a lot of detail but does not get bogged down nor is it boring. It is very engaging and will most likely be read very quickly. The main emphasis is on history with information on the science and technology of hatchery trout second. The author also talks a little about the future of trout and hatcheries.
Hubris Begets Havoc June 22, 2010
Lightman (New York)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Environmental havoc that is.
This very good book is not just for anglers, ichthyologists, or other fishy folk; it's for anybody interested in environmental issues and man's interactions with nature.
Halverson tells the story (so over the top that sometimes it seems he's spinning a yarn) of the misplaced efforts to manipulate nature and "improve fisheries" through the widespread stocking of hatchery raised rainbow trout. In the 19th century fishing was seen as a means of protecting "dexterity in the arts of pursuit and destruction, courage and self-reliance". There was widespread concern that deterioration of these skills would compromise the nation's ability to "...maintain inviolate our rights and our liberties". As the author summarizes the prevailing mood at the time, "Say goodbye to recreational fishing, in other words, and say goodbye to American democracy".
Fishing at the time was threatened as a result of the wanton environmental destruction of the industrial revolution. And rather than dealing with the root causes, the government's response was aggressive stocking of rainbow trout, which were more resistant to poor water conditions than native species such as brook trout.
It's amazing to follow the chronicle of the various rationales that continued to support this practice to the present day. Also astonishing is the variety of unintended consequences of this activity, which has irretrievably altered ecosystems and eliminated native species in this country, and eventually around the world.
Halverson's style is engaging and accessible and he manages to avoid sanctimony in making his points. He approaches the whole subject with humility and a sense that the answers are not all known, and perhaps not knowable.
Hopefully a measure of humility will replace hubris as we steward the resources of our planet in the 21st century.
Highly recommended.
 Arrogant, but interesting... April 11, 2010
John Beowulf (Eastern Sierra)
7 out of 23 found this review helpful
I must admit that I bought the book based on the cover. Indeed, rainbow trout beguiled me at a young age, and I have spent nearly 50 years watching, catching, and smoking these beautiful creatures.
Sadly though, this book is just an arrogant hatchet job on a species which did nothing wrong but attract the attention of humans. I think Anders Halverson has gone right out of his head over the issue of stocker trout. He equates them with environmental catastrophe sounding the alarm that they have decimated endangered species like mountain yellow legged frogs. Interestingly, my 40+ years of hiking and fishing the Sierra Nevada have not drawn the same conclusion. For example, I was fly fishing Mono Creek last year and catching nice rainbows, all the while I had to watch where I stepped because there were endangered frogs in the same water. Frogs have also disappeared from lakes where rainbow trout have not been present, and the likely culprit has been determined to be a fungus that is being spread around the world by ecotourists and their muddy hiking boots. So much for evil rainbow trout. This environmental insanity continues to harm recreation, tourism, and the economy because as I write this review, it is illegal for Fish and Game, or anybody, for that matter, to plant trout into any body of water in the Eastern Sierra because of claims that it will impact the willow flycatcher, a small bird. How somebody made that connection is beyond my limited experience, I guess. I have worked for NOAA Fisheries, California Fish and Game, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on various fishery projects, but I must be really ignorant for thinking that New Zealand Mud Snails and Whirling Disease have been spread around North America by fly fishermen and their muddy waders, and not stocker rainbow trout. The author of this book is convinced that hatcheries are to blame, and nothing else. The facts support me, and not the author, I am afraid. Of course, its always fun to blame stocker trout.
I suspect that these attacks on rainbow trout are more about the people who like to fish for them, than any real environmental concern. I can only imagine the disdain these environmental elite must hold for people who smoke cigarettes, drink beer, and use worms to catch stocker rainbow trout in the local fishing hole. If these elitists like Anders could have their way, it would be illegal to hunt, fish, or wear camo. They assume the position of the environmental gestapo and use everything they have at their disposal to try and eliminate outdoor recreation that doesn't suit their fancy. Ban this, and ban that. They envision this world where everything is either a wilderness area, or a national park. I have custom bamboo fly rods in my closet that cost more than I care to admit. I love the sport. But just because some clown can buy a grand in LL Bean equipment and stand in a river waving a stick, does not make anybody Hemingway. This book really smacks of arrogance, hate, disrespect for fellow humans, and selfishness. Sadly, this book is just one more example of the political discord in America that has become all too divided. Blaming stocker trout for the folly of man is mindless. This book really pissed me off.
So as I wrap this up, all I can say is: Long live the sluggo stocker rainbow mongrel trout! If it wasn't for these fish, most children would catch almost nothing. The great American family tradition of camping, and catching a fish to supplement the family meal would be over. We will become a nation of video game morons, stuffing our faces with Cheetos, and with no desire to experience the outdoors. Stocker rainbow trout are a gateway drug to the great outdoors. Lets give everyone this chance to love the persuit of this wonderful fish.
An Important Book for all Cold Water Fisherman April 2, 2010
David B. Thomas (Eugene, OR USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book is both a good read and provides, in some detail, a history and the resulting consequences of our attempts to manipulate nature in the form of a manufactured replacement fish for the fresh water fisheries we destroy or attempt to improve. The author is careful to provide the historic context under which decisions were made and to provide excellent notes and a bibliography. The latter contains much hard to find information and is likely worth the book price by itself. This book shoud be read by every thoughtful environmentally-concerned freshwater fisherman.
Meddling with Nature March 30, 2010
R. Hardy (Columbus, Mississippi USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I know little about fish or fishing, but I know fisherman like to go for rainbow trout, a good fish to have at the end of your line or to have in your frying pan. The rainbow trout is found all over our nation, and stands for conservation, and unspoiled waters, and the bounty of nature when nature is not trammeled by humans. Except that it does not really stand for any of these things. Maybe fisherman know all about this already, but for me, the revelations in _An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World_ (Yale University Press) were a surprise. The author Anders Halverson is a journalist, and has a doctorate in ecology, and likes to fish. He has hunted all through historical documents of government and conservation organizations, and interviewed plenty of researchers and others who have helped make the rainbow trout ubiquitous, or who are now trying to reduce its range. This is not just a fish book. It is a carefully written history of how we think about our natural resources, and about the paradoxes and dangers of trying to control the natural world.
Rainbow trout are native to waters feeding into the Pacific, in an arc that extends up from northern Mexico, though the northeastern states, and over to far eastern Russia. That doesn't matter anymore. They have been introduced to the Atlantic states, and in fact to every state. The only reason they aren't in Antarctica is that there is a lack of trout streams there; they are now on every other continent. A century ago, American fishing gentlemen were convinced that standing by a stream with rod and line was going to maintain our citizens' virility and make our democracy stronger, but fish like the eastern brook trout were not able to withstand the pollution and higher temperatures we were inflicting on our streams. These men shunned the bottom-feeding catfish. They simply needed a better trout, and the rainbow was it. The states with streams to be stocked thought this was all dandy. A recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that if you spend a dollar on growing and stocking rainbows, you can expect thirty-two dollars back in hotel reservations, rod sales, and airplane tickets. Everyone knows (now) that if you move a species into a region in which it did not evolve, you are liable to change things in unexpected ways. Though rainbows were often imported with the idea of adding their diversity to the local fauna, they have decreased such diversity overall. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has acted intentionally to decrease the diversity so that the rainbow trout could prosper. In 1962, the service deliberately poisoned sections of the Green River in Utah and Wyoming with "piscicide" to get rid of the pesky fish that lived there naturally. There were some complaints by academics and ecologists at the time, but the chemical got dumped in the river, and the antidote that was supposed to be dumped downriver to neutralize it and keep it from heading on through National Parks properties didn't get there, and so there was even more of an ecological disaster. This was made worse as a public relations matter because three weeks later Rachel Carson's _Silent Spring_ was published, infuriating some constituents who would not let their representatives in Washington hear the last of it. There were four species of "trash fish" that were to be killed to let the rainbows in; all are now on the endangered species list.
Halverson's book, however, is not shrill about the many preposterous and presumptuous tinkerings with the environment that have been done for the sake of bringing more rainbows to our streams. There are few villains or fools in this story of the century since this unnatural fish has been taking over the world's fresh water systems. Many of the public servants profiled here, whether their decisions were good ones or not, were taking steps based on the best information they had at the time, with the intention of helping anglers, and with no prospect of making any material gain by their actions. Halverson tells many connected stories here in a convincing and fascinating book, and generally refrains from making judgments or regrets. There are inherent paradoxes anytime humans try to take control of nature. Fishermen may think that they are escaping from civilization by getting back to nature to pursue their prey, but it turns out the fish that many are pursuing are mere products of industrialization after all.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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