
US politics
13-14 May
US politics
Heroes and villains
Nature
Zeitgeist
Long reads shortened
“Oceans account for 96% of all habitable space on Earth,” says Chris Armstrong in the London Review of Books. Yet many of the species that “once teemed in their millions” in these waters have been “harried close to extinction” by industrialised fishing. For every 300 green turtles that once swam in the Caribbean, just one remains. Nine in 10 of the world’s large fish and oyster beds have gone. “Seagrass meadows are disappearing at a rate of 7% per year.” This deep-sea decimation has required an “immense, dogged effort” by fishermen, using “nets that could swallow a Boeing 747” and longlines – fishing lines carrying vast numbers of baited hooks – “that extend for 100km”.
Zeitgeist
Comment
Quirk of history
Life