Today in Canada, the fish stocks of both the east and west coasts are in serious trouble. The once-great cod stocks have collapsed; the Fraser River salmon stocks seem to have done likewise. Coastal communities are in crisis. The majority of the great world fisheries are seriously over-exploited, and some bodies of water are effectively dead. The problem has to lie with the manner in which we run our fisheries. The issue is ethical as well as social and environmental.

A team of humanists, natural scientists, and social scientists came together to examine the question of justice in the Canadian fisheries and to seek an ethical foundation upon which to base guidelines for fisheries policies and decision-making in the future. Just Fish, the result of their work, argues that Canada could - and must - become a world leader in developing fisheries management institutions that can protect the legitimate interests of both fish and the fishers who depend upon them.

Harold Coward is a scholar of international reputation with distinguished contributions to both the University of Victoria and University of Calgary throughout his extensive career. After retiring from the University of Victoria as director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, he continues to be involved as a research fellow. He is currently a member of the Genome BC Board of Directors, where he serves as a specialist on ethics and biotechnology. In June 2002, Dr. Coward was also selected as one of the twenty-five power thinkers in British Columbia by BC Business Magazine.

Leslie S. Kawamura is an Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary, Alberta. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, in Far Eastern Studies (1974). He has studied at the Kyoto University (Japan) and has taught at the Nyingma Institute (Berkeley), Institute of Buddhist Studies (Berkeley), and the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon). His publications include Mind in Buddhist Psychology (with H.V. Guenther, Dharma Press, 1975) and Golden Zephyr (Dharma Press, 1975). He was a founding member of the Honpa Buddhist Church of Alberta and the Canada-Mongolia Society.

Harold Coward's profile page

Rosemary Ommer has been Professor of History at Memorial University of Newfoundland and is the former Research Director of Memorial's Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER). She was the Principal Investigator of the Tricounsil-funded Ecoresearch Project, "Sustainability in a Cold-Ocean Coastal Environment," investigating the sustainability of communities of fish and fishers in Newfoundland in the wake of the collapse of the groundfish stocks off Canada's east coast. She is the Director of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities, University of Calgary. She is also co-editor (with Dianne Newell) of Fishing Places, Fishing People: Issues in Canadian Small-Scale Fisheries (1999) and project director of "Coasts Under Stress."

Rosemary E. Ommer's profile page

Tony Pitcher received his doctorate from Oxford University and has taught at universities in London, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Germany. Since 1993 he has been Professor of Fisheries and the first Director of the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. He founded the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, the leading journal in its field, and founded another journal, Fish and Fisheries. His fisheries research, training, work, and consultancy have involved him in projects throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America and have lead to over 200 scientific publications, including 13 books, more than 20 Ph.D. students, and methods and concepts that are used throughout the world.

Tony Pitcher's profile page

“Just Fish…should be thoughtfully read by anyone with an interest in such frightening matters as depletion of Canada’s cod and salmon resources. The book is further enhanced by the creative and insightful artwork of Pam Hall.”

Edwin P. Pister, Fish Biology and Fisheries

"Just Fish is an unusually well‐edited product of a highly ambitious multidisciplinary project."

Øystein Aas Dr, Fish and Fisheries