The ocean's whistleblower : the remarkable life and work of Daniel Pauly / David Grémillet ; translated by Georgia Lyon Froman.

Translation of: Daniel Pauly, un océan de combats.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. Origins -- A Swiss childhood -- Youth in Germany -- The search for an American father -- II. Constructions -- From oceanography to fisheries biology -- Daniel's first African experience -- Development aid in Indonesia -- Birth of a career in the Philippines -- San Miguel Bay and the social dimensions of fisheries -- Tropical statistics -- A Pacific heroine -- A man of letters -- Fish stories in Peru -- Nature in a box -- For all the fish in the world -- Photo album -- III. On the world stage -- The big leagues -- Fishing down marine food webs -- The sea around us -- Chinese fisheries and Charles Darwin -- Uncertain glory -- Reconstructions -- Africa forever -- French allies -- First loves, final battles -- Epilogue -- Appendices: Important dates in the life of Daniel Pauly -- List of abbreviations and organizations.

"Daniel Pauly is a living legend in the world of marine biology. He is also a man whose life has been shaped by struggle. In this first authorized biography, writer David Grémillet recounts the scientist's extraordinary life, including his heartbreaking childhood, his escape to Germany, his political and racial reawakening in 1960s America, and his one-of-a-kind career as a brave scientist who blew the whistle on overfishing. Daniel Pauly was born in Paris after the Second World War to a white French mother and a Black American GI father. When his father left for America, Pauly's mother fell prey to a manipulative white family who adopted Pauly under murky circumstances. Pauly was taken to Switzerland, where he was treated cruelly as the family's live-in servant. Contact with his mother was prohibited. Against all odds, Pauly finished high school and fled to Germany, where he enrolled in university. In Germany, Pauly blossomed. He pursued a career in oceanography, eventually travelling the world to conduct his groundbreaking, data-driven scientific research method. Pauly famously coined the influential term "shifting baselines," in which knowledge of environmental degradation is lost over time, leading to a misguided understanding of what we have helped destroy. He also blew the whistle on the powerful global fishing industry, alerting the public to the impacts of overfishing on our planet. Told through interviews with Pauly himself, family, teachers, colleagues, and friends, Grémillet recounts Pauly's life with remarkable pace and precision. Epic, captivating, and inspiring, The Ocean's Whistleblower introduces one of the most important scientists of our time."--

Issued also in electronic format.