Sea Change

Sea Change is the captivating, deeply-human tale of how fishermen—along with some unlikely allies—helped carry out the biggest conservation success story you've never heard of. ​

“A narrative shot through with optimism.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Exploring a win for the world's most vital ecosystem, Sea Change tells the story of unlikely partnerships and surprising solutions that are quietly revolutionizing the fishing industry. Like other ocean areas, the Gulf Coast fisheries were being fished out to the detriment of wildlife and the people whose livelihoods and communities hinge on sea catch. Fisherman Keith “Buddy” Guindon had followed every suggested policy and practice to no avail, until he—along with scientists, government agencies, and environmental groups—helped lead real change that is preventing overfishing and securing resource longevity. Sea Change demonstrates that success is possible, that the time is now, and the methods are here to conserve our natural world and the people who depend on it.

JAMES WORKMAN is a storyteller, entrepreneur, and author of resilience strategies, including the award-winning book Heart of Dryness. Drawing on fieldwork with Indigenous Kalahari people, he founded AquaShares, a firm pioneering water credit trading. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Orion, Trout, and Washington Monthly. Workman studied at Yale, Oxford, and Stanford, and taught at Wesleyan and Whitman, but his real education came from restoring wildfires, reintroducing wolves, blowing up dams, smuggling to dissidents, getting married, and raising two daughters.

AMANDA LELAND fell in love with the sea at five years old, when her grandfather taught her to fish. As executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, Leland brings stakeholders together to support healthy communities and economies while reducing climate impacts. She previously led EDF’s Oceans program, a global team in fourteen countries focused on reversing overfishing while supporting those whose livelihoods rely on fish, triggering the dramatic economic and ecological recovery of US fisheries and beyond. An avid kayaker and scuba diver, Leland holds a master’s degree in marine biology and lives with her family in Washington, DC.