Includes bibliographical references and index.

Changing seas. Four and a half billion years ; Food from the sea ; Fewer fish in the sea ; Winds and currents ; Life on the move ; Rising tides ; Corrosive seas ; Dead zones and the world's great rivers ; Unwholesome waters ; The age of plastic ; The not so silent world ; Aliens, invaders, and the homogenization of life ; Pestilence and plague ; Mare incognitum ; Ecosystems at your service -- Changing course. Farming the sea ; The great cleanup ; Can we cool our warming world? ; A new deal for the oceans ; Life renewed ; Saving the giants of the sea ; Preparing for the worst ; Epilogue : the sea ahead -- Appendix 1. Seafood with a clear conscience -- Appendix 2. Conservation charities working to protect ocean life.

Putting our exploitation of the seas into historical context, Roberts offers a devastating account of the impact of modern fishing techniques, pollution, and climate change, and reveals what it would take to steer the right course while there is still time.