Fairfax, Sally K.

English

University of New Mexico

Volume 22 
Issue 1 Winter 1982 
Winter 1982 
Coastal Aquaculture Law and Policy: A Case Study of California, 
Gerald Bowden 
Sally K. Fairfax 
Recommended Citation 
Sally K. Fairfax, Coastal Aquaculture Law and Policy: A Case Study of California, Gerald Bowden, 22 Nat. 
Resources J. 267 (1982). 
Available at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol22/iss1/21 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UNM Digital Repository. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resources Journal by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For 
more information, please contact amywinter@unm.edu, lsloane@salud.unm.edu, sarahrk@unm.edu. 
COASTAL AQUACULTURE LAW AND POLICY:
A CASE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA
GERALD BOWDEN
Boulder: Westview Press, Westview Special Studies in Agriculture/Aquaculture
Science and Policy. 1981. Pp. 241. $26.25.
The thesis of Gerald Bowden's CoastalAquaculture Law and Policy
is that laws developed for hunting and gathering use of marine re-
sources may impede or preclude development of commercial marine
aquaculture-farming of the sea. He weaves this basic conclusion
through twelve essays designed to introduce the reader to federal and
state regulation of aquaculture in California. His book is clearly de-
signed for novice readers in both aquaculture and policy studies fields.
Bowden has, therefore, adopted a readable, frequently conversational,
writing style and accompanied each chapter with whimsical line draw-
ings, thus imparting a pleasant leavening touch to a volume ominously
bound in liver tones and black. The author has also made a useful, if
occasionally superficial, effort to include relevant biological informa-
tion as a basis for understanding policy and regulatory issues. Mussel
toxicity would not, we are informed, be controlled by a directive to
remove stomach and intestines which accompanies some other shell-
fish because the mussels' digestive organs are difficult to locate "in
these colorfully meated animals."'
The chapters are designed to be independent of each other so that
readers interested in a specific topic can find the basics in succinct,
complete packages. Aquaculture is approached from several different
perspectives: chapters focus on individual actors (state fish and game
agencies and the Army Corps of Engineers2 ); general programs (water-
pollution control and coastal zone planning3 ); and specific problems
and topics in the aquaculture field (marine plant aquaculture and
shellfish sanitation control'). The opening discussion of the coastal
aquaculture industry is particularly interesting,' providing the neo-
phyte with a quick rundown on commercial species and culture tech-
niques.
As in most things in life, however, the book's principal virtues give
rise to its principal defects. The author's breezy style frequently gives
way to self-indulgent overwriting.6 The free-standing essays result in
1. G. BOWDEN, COASTAL AQUACULTURE LAW AND POLICY: A CASE STUDY
OF CALIFORNIA (1981), at 123.
2. Id., Ch. 3 and 8, respectively.
3. Id., Ch. 5 and 6, respectively.
4. Id., Ch. 4 and 7, respectively.
5. Id., Ch. 1.
6. See, e.g., id. at 70 and 135.
NATURAL RESOURCES JOURNAL
patchy, repetitive or inadequate treatment of many key topics. For
example, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is treated exten-
sively in the chapter devoted to water-pollution control7 and reap-
pears in the chapter on the Corps of Engineers.8 The reader cannot
easily integrate the material because there is no index. This surprising
omission severely compromises the book's utility as an introductory
volume.
Most troubling, however, is that the author appears to have become
so involved with the cartoons and rhetorical flourishes that he has de-
serted his task as analyst and synthesizer. Bowden clearly has a point
of view. This is legitimate, and it would be surprising if he were not a
forthright advocate of aquaculture. However, he is unacceptably con-
tent to abruptly halt important discussions with jocular "one liners"
that obscure rather than elucidate the issues he raises. The essay on
marine plant aquaculture, for example, concludes with the observa-
tion that we have "screeds of law-regulating aquaculture" which have
been adapted from practices designed to control hunting and gather-
ing but no policy regarding mariculture "to weigh them against." 9
He also admits, without explaining, that there is no pressure from in-
dustry, such as it is, or anywhere else to change the law. "Plant mar-
culture shows great potential as a source of energy and raw chemical
compounds," he avers, "and a compelling argument could be made
for developing a policy designed to stimulate industrial research and
development in marine plant husbandry."'" Regrettably, beyond
being in favor of mariculture, Bowden never attempts such an argu-
ment. He closes, instead, with the assertion that "this body of law is
so atavistic [sic] as to resemble a time-warped Code of Hammurabi....
If you infer that we now regulate seaweed the way Captain Ahab
might have regulated whale ranching, then you need read no fur-
ther."'" The author's frustration may be justified, but his failure to
deal more lucidly with the issues he has raised is not.
The lack of analysis which characterizes the first 150 pages may
have motivated the author to close with three dense chapters on
boundary law, common property, and the economic costs of regula-
tion. Unfortunately, the requisite rigor and clarity is absent from
these chapters as well; although pedantic and less lively than the pre-
vious discussions, they are not insightful. Indeed, the "costs of regu-
7. Id., Ch. 5.
8. Id., Ch. 8.
9. Id., at 69.
10. Id., at 70.
11. Id.
[Vol. 22
AQUACULTURE LAW AND POLICY
lation" discussion in Chapter 111 2 deals almost exclusively with ac-
tual expenditures of specific operators. Neither costs borne by others
nor benefits to the public, the operators, and the consumer are analy-
zed. Although one might be willing to pursue Bowden's introductory
discussions into the available literature, the author has not provided
either a "Literature Cited" or a "Further Reading" section in the vol-
ume. These analytical and structural inadequacies seriously compro-
mise his efforts to introduce and win converts for this fascinating and
inadequately understood field of public policy.
SALLY K. FAIRFAX, Associate Professor
College of Natural Resources
University of California, Berkeley
12. Id., at 193-235.
January 1982]


Coastal Aquaculture Law and Policy: A Case Study of California, Gerald Bowden

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Coastal Aquaculture Law and Policy: A Case Study of California, Gerald Bowden

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