| Gr 9-12-- Underwater farming, or aquaculture, may supply the world with much of its food in the future. But from this account, one would think that it poses no social or ecological problems, when in fact these are the main reasons that it is not in wider practice. Fichter covers the techniques of cultivating various species of fin fish (both fresh and salt-water), shellfish, and plants. His tone is relentlessly upbeat on the possibilities, without any mention of the problems of organic pollution (from wastes), genetic ``unmasking (a result of inbreeding for desired characteristics that leads to birth defects), or various social problems that might result. While his style is mostly clear and quite colorful, he employs too many passive constructions and commits a number of errors in spelling, grammar, and syntax. Some vocabulary choices are unnecessarily hyperbolic. The black-and-white photographs are well-keyed to the text with appropriate captions, but most are grainy and some lack contrast. Essentially the same information is presented in The Sea s Harvest (Dodd, 1975; o.p.) by Joseph Brown. A more poetic, much better-illustrated treatment is Elisabeth Mann Borgese s Seafarm (Abrams, 1980; o.p.). There are also several books on specific techniques for farm and ocean for the more technically-minded; Fichter s book compares unfavorably with these. --Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Marysville, Wash. |
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