A review by smalltownbookmom
Not on My Watch: How a Renegade Whale Biologist Took on Governments and Industry to Save Wild Salmon by Alexandra Morton

5.0

A truly inspiring memoir revealing Alexandra Morton's thirty year fight to show how salmon farms in BC are harming the wild salmon (and ultimately the whales). A California transplant, Alexandra came to BC to study communication in whales but quickly observed the damaging effects of the salmon farming industry on the local wildlife and thus began what would turn into a life-long battle. Her dogged determination and selflessness in her scientific studies and environmental activism is extremely admirable! This was the perfect book to read on Earth day and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone. I had no idea what really goes on in commercial salmon farms and how damaging their effects are on the surrounding ecosystems - this book was in turns eye-opening and heartbreaking and I will never look at salmon the same way again! For fans of Braiding sweetgrass, The right to be cold or the movie Dark Waters.

Favorite quotes:
"It's love that makes people stand up and react. The only places that are going to survive us are the places we love so fiercely that giving up isn't an option."

"The lack of political reaction to the damage caused by salmon farming is not an isolated plunder, it's part of a fatal continuum."

"I wanted to hold up a mirror to all of us on the front lines, showing us that we were brave, beautiful, powerful and relentless in winning the future for our children, the fish and the whales."

"Whether the issue is climate change or salmon farms, we need to weigh the validity of the science against its funding source."