The High Seas

Ambition, Power and Greed on the Unclaimed Ocean

Olive Heffernan

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Year: 2024
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782836162
• Subtopic: Maritime Law
• Index: Technology & Engineering

THE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
'A comprehensive investigation of the staggering damage we have done to the world's oceans and its life forms' Observer

'A vital, fascinating, deeply researched exploration of Earth's last wilderness... Shocking and starkly 'illuminating - a must-read' Gaia Vince

The ocean covers seventy per cent of the surface of our planet, and two thirds of this lie beyond national borders. Owned by all nations and no nation simultaneously, these waters are home to some of the richest and most biodiverse environments on the planet. But they are also home to exploitation on a scale that few of us can imagine.

Here, industry and economic progress rule and lax enforcement and apathy are the status quo. Out of sight and often out of mind, a battle rages to control, profit from, protect, or obliterate the world's largest, wildest commons. Heffernan sets sail on a journey to uncover the truth behind deeply exploitative fishing practices, investigate the potentially devastating impact of deep-sea mining, and hold to task the Silicon-valley interventionists whose solutions to climate change are often wildly optimistic, radically irresponsible or both.

The result is a forceful and deeply researched manifesto calling for the protection and preservation of this final frontier - the last vestiges of wilderness on Earth.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1. The Outer Sea
• 2. Enter the Twilight Zone
• 3. The Hunt for Dark Targets
• 4. Treasures from the Deep
• 5. The Interventionists
• 6. A ‘Near-Arctic’ State
• 7. The Last Frontier
• 8. Genes, Drugs and Justice
• 9. Deep Trouble
• 10. The Cold Rush
• 11. Paradise Lost
• 12. Hope for the High Seas
• References
• Further Reading
• Acknowledgements