by Alix Morris
First published 2025
Environmental journalist Alix Morris embarks on a year-long journey to document the daily lives of seals in coastal waters. She observes these creatures through changing seasons, studying their complex social behaviors and relationships within their ecosystems. Morris encounters the many human groups affected by the seals' remarkable recovery from near extinction. Local fishermen struggle as seals reduce their catches. Indigenous tribes reflect on their traditional seal hunting practices. Marine biologists and rescue workers monitor the population. Surfers face increased shark encounters as the predators follow seal colonies. Morris navigates the competing interests and heated debates surrounding this conservation success story. She documents how the seals' return creates unexpected ripple effects throughout coastal communities and marine food webs. The book explores what happens when wildlife protection efforts actually succeed and examines the ongoing consequences of human intervention in natural systems. Morris reveals how even positive conservation outcomes can disrupt established ecological and social relationships in unforeseen ways.
Genres: nature, animals, environment, non-fiction, 21st-century, conservation
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: environmental-impact, nature-documentary
Setting: Coastal Waters
Period: Year
286 pages · Kindle Edition · Algonquin Books