Expanding on the author's year-long study of the shrimp and salmon aquaculture industries as an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow, the book lays out the rationale behind aquaculture development: increasing the world food supply and creating jobs in areas hard hit by declining landings in wild fisheries. However, reality is something else entirely as evidenced in ravaged ecosystems and bankrupted local economies. The author expands on his existing case studies, near his homes in eastern Maine, and Sonora, Mexico, and links them to events in other parts of the world.