The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean
by Osha Gray Davidson
Published by Public Affairs LLC, 2001
Review — Honolulu Advertiser, 10 Nov 2001
"[A]n eloquent eco-cautionary take wrapped in a scientific mystery. . . From remote Pacific atolls to Key West, the author provides an underwater travelogue in search of an answer to the disease's origin. . . With a quick flowing narrative sparkling with wit, Davidson also provides anecdotal episodes about other similarly intriguing situations in the natural world. . . readers interested in ecology and animals, as well as those who value strong prose, will be intrigued and troubled by this book." — Publishers Weekly
"[Davidson] makes complex material understandable . . . [Fire in the Turtle House] provides some well-deserved attention to the preservation of these valuable animals." — Library Journal
"Davidson brings environmental passion, as well as a gimlet-eyed environmental appreciation, to the turtles' predicament, giving the plague a moral dimension as well as delivering on the scientific one." — Kirkus Reviews
"Turtles have graced the seas for hundreds of millions of years. What their future holds, no one can say. Fire in the Turtle House is an important book about this wounded world and the people who are trying to set it right." — Carl Safina, author of "Song for the Blue Ocean"
"Osha Gray Davidson has a brilliant command of all that lives in the ocean. As a surfer, diver, and film producer of ocean films, his books are my life blood—and they nourish my soul" — Greg MacGillivray, Producer and Director of The IMAX Theater films "Everest," "The Living Sea," and "Dolphins"
The "honu"—Hawaiian for sea turtle—has existed since the time of the dinosaurs. Considered sacred by many cultures, the sea turtle is also universally considered one of the most fascinating and beautiful animals in the sea. But this revered and mystical reptile is fading from the sea, ravaged by a mysterious and gruesome plague called fibropapillomatosis (FP). Now affecting six of seven remaining species of sea turtles in every boat basin in the world, FP has the potential to render extinct creatures that have existed for more than a hundred million years. What is happening to the sea turtle, and how can it be stopped? And what does the disappearance of the sea turtle imply for the future of our oceans?
In Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean, acclaimed journalist Osha Gray Davidson tracks the fervent efforts of the extraordinary marine biologists and veterinarians engaged in a race against time. Their goal is to unravel a complicated biological and environmental puzzle that will save the turtles from extinction.
Davidson takes us with him as he descends to the quiet of the world's oceans with scientists and dedicated turtle advocates—one of whom has logged over 1200 dives with sea turtles in Hawaii. He traces with us the lives of particular turtles, revealing their surprisingly distinct personalities and why they inspire an almost spiritual devotion in the humans who come to know them. Travelling from Maui's Turtle House to Grand Cayman Island, from Florida's Indian River Lagoon to the windswept French Frigate Shoals, Davidson expertly traces the story of the sea turtle—and of our relationship to the sea—through history. Vivid tales of a Russian brig stranded on the Bering Sea in 1741; of the opening of New York City's Aquarium in 1896; of John Steinbeck-era Cannery Row; all shed light on the genesis of FP while illuminating the role humans play in marine mass mortalities and extinctions.
Fire in the Turtle House is truly an experience. It is a beautifully written, provocative, and ultimately terrifying insight into the ways we influence the fate of the Green Sea Turtle and a lesson in how emerging diseases wreaking havoc in the global ocean pose an enormous, direct threat to the turtles and to ourselves.
Osha Gray Davidson is the author of several books including The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History and The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef, a Discovery Channel On-line Editor's Choice, and a finalist for the Natural World Book Prize. His work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Republic.
PublicAffairs; ISBN: 1-58648-000-6; $26.00US; 220 pages
