Photo of the Wisconsin Water Library Summer Fishing Display
By India-Bleu Niehoff, Community Engaged Intern
To reel in the summer, the Wisconsin Water Library has a new book display! We’re highlighting fish and more broadly fishing, a very traditional summer (and winter) activity.
In this display, we explore the different types of fish, the history of fishing and controversies surrounding fishing, such as the fight to respect the treaty rights of Ojibwe spearfishing or the importance and practice of sustainable fishing to preserve our oceans.
Visit the library to check out our selection or explore one of our accumulated online resources!
Books on Display!
Adult
America’s Bountiful Waters: 150 Years of Fisheries Conservation and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service edited by Craig Springer. Guilford, Connecticut: Stackpole Books, 2021.
Blue Men & River Monsters: Folklore of the North edited by John Zimm. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2014.
Bottomfeeder: A Seafood Lover’s Journey to the End of the Food Chain by Taras Grescoe.New York: Bloomsbury USA: Distributed to the trade by Macmillan, 2008.
Eye of the Shoal: A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Oceans, and Everything by Helen Scales. London; New York: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2018.
Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization by Brian M. Fagan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017.
Fishing Lessons: Artisanal Fisheries and the Future of our Oceans by Kevin McLean Bailey. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Ichthyo: the Architecture of Fish: X-Rays from the Smithsonian Institution by Daniel Pauly. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2008.
The Walleye War: the Struggle for Ojibwe Spearfishing and Treaty Rights by Larry Nesper. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Kids
All the Fish in the World by David Opie. White Plains, New York: Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 2021
Fish by Steve Parker. New York: Knopf, 1990.
We Love Fishing by Ariel Bernstein. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021.
Want to learn even more? Check out our accumulated online resources!
Learn more about spearfishing and tribal rights:
https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/ways-spearfishing-living-history/
https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-112
https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/crossing-line-tribble-brothers/
Learn more about sustainable fishing and seafood:
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/sustainable-fishing/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/insight/understanding-sustainable-seafood
https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/fishing/sustainable-fishing
Learn more about how to identify fish and the words you use:
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/fish-id/
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/our-work/focus-areas/fish-and-fisheries/fish-glossary/