A testimony to the spectacular life that
comes from the sea. (Review by Debbie Reynolds)
The critically acclaimed BBC series, Blue Planet, has done much to highlight
the incredible world beneath and beside our oceans. Narrated by Sir David
Attenborough it educates and inspires, but it also tells a tragic story of how
we are suffocating our seas.
It is a story that is told for everyone, a
warning that if we don’t take action we will destroy the life force of our
world.
In their equally well-researched and
definitive book Living Shores:
Interacting with southern Africa’s marine ecosystem, authors George and
Margo Branch take a passionate in-depth look into the forces that shape our
seas and our coastlines.
Over 300 beautifully illustrated pages,
which take us from Beira to Luanda, through surging seas and rocky shores to
estuaries, islands and the deep blue, are packed with just about everything
there is to know about ocean dynamics and marine diversity.
Originally published in 1981 and aimed
largely at marine science students and teachers, the revised and reworked book
was released in February this year.
The authors, both lecturers, researchers
and biologists, decided to update their book 37 years later as a labour of
love, but mostly because so much more has been discovered and learned over the
last four decades.
“Terms and concepts that did not even exist
in 1981 include climate change, co-management. Ecosystem approach to fisheries,
operational management procedures and marine protected areas,” they write in
the preface. “If some of those terms are unfamiliar to you, here’s your
opportunity to learn how activities along the coast have changed.”
As a long-time scuba diver, I share their
passion for the sea and concerns for how we preserve and protect this
incredibly rich natural heritage.
Living
Shores goes to great lengths to explain how our
oceans work, why they are important, how we impact on them and what the
challenges are in the future.
It is more than just a textbook – although
it does that brilliantly – but rather a testimony to the spectacular life that
comes from the sea, from the seemingly lowly limpet to majestic humpback whales
and everything in between.
Did you know that the dusky cob rides the
tides to save energy or that the African penguin population has reduced by over
90%? What about the theory that modern humans probably originated on the Cape
south coast?
Living
Shores is packed with scientific data, but also
fascinating facts that will appeal to a broader audience than only marine science
students. It is not intended as a coffee table book, but its glossy pages
filled with spectacular colour photography and explanatory illustrations and
diagrams certainly lend themselves to being on display.
Living
Shores: Interacting with southern Africa’s marine ecosystem is published by Struik Nature/Penguin Random House South Africa. ISBN:
9781431700813. RRP: R450. - Debbie Reynolds
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