The Provident Sea describes the history of fish stock management (including whales and seals). The book traces, on the basis of the original scientific material, the history of the management of "the provident sea" up to recent times when problems of over-exploitation have had dramatic effects upon stocks. The need for management arose mainly from the increasing industrialization of capture. Hence the preindustrial fisheries are covered, in particular the old cod fishery on the Grand Bank and the herring fishery in the North Sea, as an essential background to current problems. The origins of...