FISHING

In the America at Work series, Drake and Love (Forestry, 1998, etc.) offer an overview of two US fisheries, one in Maine and the other in Alaska, as experienced through the eyes of a young girl, Jessie, who travels from her Alaska home to visit her Down East grandfather. The principal catch in each locale is salmon, but the text explains that past fishing practices have radically altered traditional methods of harvest. Heavy over-fishing has reduced the Maine salmon fishery to fish farming, which is what Jessie’s grandfather introduces her to. He takes her through the process of raising salmon, and also shows her experimental work in raising halibut. When Jessie returns home, her father, who is state fisheries officer, talks to her about the wild salmon fisheries still found in Alaska, and the ideal elements necessary for prime fish habitat. It is his job to protect that habitat and insure the salmon are not over-harvested as they were on the East Coast. Although the tone of the book is wincingly didactic, for the most part the information is doled out in manageable quantities, and the crystal-clear, full-color artwork leaves no doubt about the difference between a gillnetter and a seiner, a trawler and a longliner. (Picture book. 7-10)