The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current by Kristin A. Wintersteen

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Reviewed by: The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current by Kristin A. Wintersteen Kellen Backer (bio) The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current By Kristin A. Wintersteen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021. Pp. 246. Kristin Wintersteen's The Fishmeal Revolution tells a transnational story linking the fish of the Humboldt Current to the global food supply. Situated in the Pacific, off the western coast of South America, the Humboldt Current's constant churn of nutrients sustains fish that served as fodder for industrialized meat production in the second half of the twentieth century. Wintersteen's monograph gives both a very broad overview, looking into the longer history of the current from "deep time" to the present, as well as a narrower history of fishing boom towns in Chile and Peru. The story is both local, national, and international, as Wintersteen follows science, capital, regulations, and fishmeal across the world. The Humboldt Current supports a plethora of fish, particularly anchovetas and sardines, small fish that can be made into fishmeal and fish oil. At times, the current supports enormous schools of fish, something naturalists and the people living in the region have long noticed, though climactic events like El Niño dramatically shape fish availability. While many aquatic creatures thrive in the current, the smaller species of fish, which were less desirable as food, became useful in creating products that provided nutrients for the industrialized production of chickens, hogs, and even farmed fish. And yet, few consumers know of the linkages between the ocean and their dinner. After providing a long history of the Humboldt Current and a background to the industrial uses of fish products from 1840–1930, Wintersteen looks closer at the history of the region's fishing industries. Starting in the 1950s, the fishmeal industry exploded in Chile and Peru, and fish from the Humboldt Current likely supplied over half of the world's fish-meal from 1950–2010 (p. 5). Wintersteen follows the rise of fishmeal and fish oil production in Chile and Peru, focusing on how local and global science, capital, regulations, and cultures shaped the nascent fishing and fish processing industries. The differing histories of fishmeal production in Peru and Chile offer a compelling story of the impact of state regulations, technology, and the environment. The Peruvian industry focused on fishing for anchoveta, particularly in the boom town of Chimbote, while Chile's fishing industry utilized several species of fish. The transnational comparison between Peru and Chile is highly useful [End Page 589] for understanding the rise of local industry, the role of national governments in shaping fishing industries, and how various places responded to ecological crises. In many ways, Wintersteen's story bears a remarkable resemblance to histories of mining, with its boom and bust towns. The fish-meal trade, however, dependent on fish, faced very different challenges in predicting outputs and managing resources, particularly in a region where events like El Niño altered ecosystems. The dramatic changes in oceanic life and differing responses in Chile and Peru, also under various governments, offer lessons for dealing with environmental crises. To tell this story, Wintersteen draws on an impressive array of evidence from archives in eight countries, including corporate, government, and scientific sources that paint a multi-level, transnational picture of fishing, regulations, and industry. Wintersteen argues that the story of the region is "translocal," and by utilizing such diverse sources, the monograph highlights many interconnections between different places. With such a broad focus, many topics are left out, including a close analysis of fish processing and the uses of fishmeal in industrialized food production. Technology's role in the story is mentioned briefly, such as in the histories of nylon nets or the use of steam to create fishmeal. While the focus on multiple sites helps to make the story translocal, many parts of the history are therefore very short. The Fishmeal Revolution will appeal to many scholars, particularly those interested in envirotechnical history and transnational history. Scholars interested in scientific uncertainty, particularly around the environment, will learn much from this volume. By telling a story that includes businesses, fishers, scientific researchers, and government officials across the globe...