The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait of Georgia
By Richard Beamish and Gordon McFarlane
(Harbour Publishing)
The Sea Among Us is the ultimate coffee-table book and reference material for all who live by and love the beauty of the Strait of Georgia.
The Strait is a semi-enclosed inland waterway located within the broader Salish Sea that encompasses the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, and Juan de Fuca Strait. It’s connected to the Pacific Ocean through its northern and southern boundaries and is the receptacle for copious volumes of fresh water from bordering rivers and streams, making it a truly unique body of water.
This is the first book to present a comprehensive study of the Strait of Georgia in all aspects, featuring chapters on geology, oceanography, invertebrates and marine plants, fish, marine mammals, birds, and human history. It was written with the intended purpose of providing sound science and an expansive view of the Strait of Georgia to decision-makers who find themselves responsible for the management of the Strait.
The book also creates awareness within the general public around the sensitivity of this body of water, and the challenges facing all the life and livelihoods it maintains (all proceeds go towards the protection and conservation of the Straits biodiversity through the Pacific Salmon Foundation).
The Sea Among Us is a collaborative effort by authors Gordon McFarlane and Richard Beamish, but the two didn’t write this book alone; they worked collaboratively with expert contributing writers for each chapter. And, because of this, each chapter is just packed with information, amazing photographs, charts, and graphs that are used well to provide a clear understanding of the subject matter.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover what the sea floor is made of, how long certain sea creatures can live (for example, geoduck clams can live 168 years!), and how the First Nations peoples used and were sustained by the biodiversity of the Strait.
The Sea Among Us provides an understanding and appreciation of the Strait of Georgia to anyone who finds themselves connected to the Strait in some way.
More importantly, the book outlines the challenges facing us in regards to how climate change and human impact could affect the Strait now and in the future.