Not on My Watch
How a Renegade Whale Biologist Took on Governments and Industry to Save Wild Salmon
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $30.30
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Katie Ryerson
-
Written by:
-
Alexandra Morton
About this listen
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Alexandra Morton has been called "the Jane Goodall of Canada" because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia's wild salmon. Her account of that fight is both inspiring in its own right and a roadmap of resistance.
Alexandra Morton came north from California in the early 1980s, following her first love--the northern resident orca. In remote Echo Bay, in the Broughton Archipelago, she found the perfect place to settle into all she had ever dreamed of: a lifetime of observing and learning what these big-brained mammals are saying to each other. She was lucky enough to get there just in time to witness a place of true natural abundance, and learned how to thrive in the wilderness as a scientist and a single mother.
Then, in 1989, industrial aquaculture moved into the region, chasing the whales away. Her fisherman neighbours asked her if she would write letters on their behalf to government explaining the damage the farms were doing to the fisheries, and one thing led to another. Soon Alex had shifted her scientific focus to documenting the infectious diseases and parasites that pour from the ocean farm pens of Atlantic salmon into the migration routes of wild Pacific salmon, and then to proving their disastrous impact on wild salmon and the entire ecosystem of the coast.
Alex stood against the farms, first representing her community, then alone, and at last as part of an uprising that built around her as ancient Indigenous governance resisted a province and a country that wouldn't obey their own court rulings. She has used her science, many acts of protest and the legal system in her unrelenting efforts to save wild salmon and ultimately the whales--a story that reveals her own doggedness and bravery but also shines a bright light on the ways other humans doggedly resist the truth. Here, she brilliantly calls those humans to account for the sake of us all.
©2021 Alexandra Morton (P)2021 Penguin Random House CanadaYou may also enjoy...
-
True North Rising
- My Fifty-Year Journey with the Inuit and Dene Leaders Who Transformed Canada's North
- Written by: Whit Fraser
- Narrated by: Whit Fraser
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whit Fraser delivers a smart, touching and astute living history of five decades that transformed the North, a span he witnessed first as a longtime CBC reporter and then through his friendships and his work with Dene and Inuit activists and leaders. Whit had a front-row seat at the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, the constitutional conferences and the land-claims negotiations that successfully reshaped the North. His vivid portraits of groundbreakers bring home their truly historic achievements, but they also give us a privileged glimpse of who they are, and who Whit Fraser is.
-
-
thoroughly enjoyed.
- By Kerry Munro on 2023-02-08
Written by: Whit Fraser
-
Finding the Mother Tree
- Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
- Written by: Suzanne Simard
- Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life.
-
-
Couldn't put it down...
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-11-28
Written by: Suzanne Simard
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- Written by: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Fascinating Polynesia 101
- By Jacob R. on 2020-02-16
Written by: Christina Thompson
-
To Speak for the Trees
- My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest
- Written by: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
- Narrated by: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Canadian botanist, biochemist, and visionary Diana Beresford-Kroeger's startling insights into the hidden life of trees have already sparked a quiet revolution in how we understand our relationship to forests. Now, in a captivating account of how her life led her to these illuminating and crucial ideas, she shows us how forests can not only heal us but save the planet.
-
-
A beautiful gift
- By AJM on 2020-01-30
Written by: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
-
Lookout
- Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest
- Written by: Trina Moyles
- Narrated by: Trina Moyles
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While growing up in Peace River, Alberta, Trina Moyles heard many stories of Lookout Observers--strange, eccentric types who spent five-month summers alone, climbing 100-foot high towers and watching for signs of fire in the surrounding boreal forest. How could you isolate yourself for that long? she wondered. "I could never do it," she told herself.
-
-
A wild love story.
- By Rhianna Lindsay on 2021-04-22
Written by: Trina Moyles
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- Written by: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
-
good read
- By Anonymous User on 2022-09-12
Written by: Mark Kurlansky
-
True North Rising
- My Fifty-Year Journey with the Inuit and Dene Leaders Who Transformed Canada's North
- Written by: Whit Fraser
- Narrated by: Whit Fraser
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whit Fraser delivers a smart, touching and astute living history of five decades that transformed the North, a span he witnessed first as a longtime CBC reporter and then through his friendships and his work with Dene and Inuit activists and leaders. Whit had a front-row seat at the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, the constitutional conferences and the land-claims negotiations that successfully reshaped the North. His vivid portraits of groundbreakers bring home their truly historic achievements, but they also give us a privileged glimpse of who they are, and who Whit Fraser is.
-
-
thoroughly enjoyed.
- By Kerry Munro on 2023-02-08
Written by: Whit Fraser
-
Finding the Mother Tree
- Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
- Written by: Suzanne Simard
- Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life.
-
-
Couldn't put it down...
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-11-28
Written by: Suzanne Simard
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- Written by: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Fascinating Polynesia 101
- By Jacob R. on 2020-02-16
Written by: Christina Thompson
-
To Speak for the Trees
- My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest
- Written by: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
- Narrated by: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Canadian botanist, biochemist, and visionary Diana Beresford-Kroeger's startling insights into the hidden life of trees have already sparked a quiet revolution in how we understand our relationship to forests. Now, in a captivating account of how her life led her to these illuminating and crucial ideas, she shows us how forests can not only heal us but save the planet.
-
-
A beautiful gift
- By AJM on 2020-01-30
Written by: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
-
Lookout
- Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest
- Written by: Trina Moyles
- Narrated by: Trina Moyles
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While growing up in Peace River, Alberta, Trina Moyles heard many stories of Lookout Observers--strange, eccentric types who spent five-month summers alone, climbing 100-foot high towers and watching for signs of fire in the surrounding boreal forest. How could you isolate yourself for that long? she wondered. "I could never do it," she told herself.
-
-
A wild love story.
- By Rhianna Lindsay on 2021-04-22
Written by: Trina Moyles
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- Written by: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
-
good read
- By Anonymous User on 2022-09-12
Written by: Mark Kurlansky
What the critics say
"A devastating literary exposé of one of the greatest scandals of recent Canadian history. What begins as a wholly human memoir of a reluctant activist takes on the urgency of a murder thriller—one in which the victims are wild salmon, coastal communities, science and democracy." (J.B. MacKinnon, author of The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be)
“[Not on My Watch] doesn’t read as an angry polemic. Rather, it’s an outline of a life spent standing up for something.” (Dana Gee, Vancouver Sun)
“How does a scientist and mother fight both foreign-owned fish farm cartels and lying governments? Alexandra Morton provides a thrilling recipe: a wallop of persistence, three decades of science, cups of stubbornness and the salt of undaunted courage. If the Pacific Northwest Coast's wild salmon can survive our industrial assault on their very existence, credit must go to the indomitable courage of Alex Morton and a brave renaissance in First Nations governance.” (Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Empire of Beetle and Slickwater)
What listeners say about Not on My Watch
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- priya
- 2022-08-16
Incredible Woman
I cannot believe that I haven't heard about A Morton until now! How can such important Canadian news go uncovered? Also, I will NEVER eat farmed salmon again, no matter how "sustainable". What has happened in fish-farming is just disgusting and the government has turned a blind eye so that profits could be made. More of Canada's shameful history revealed.
She writes very matter-of-factly, from the present POV, so I think maybe a lot of the passion, confusion, fear of what she has dedicated her life towards has been lost.
Nevertheless, every Canadian, and everyone who eats salmon should read this book. What a David and Goliath tale of persistence and righteousness. Brava to A Morton!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- case jean-louis
- 2024-02-18
Excellent book.
Must read for anyone interested in preserving our environment for future generations. This book does not only recount a journey of courage but exposes the various forces that supported and worked with the guardians of our waterways and the life forms within.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frazer Bergman
- 2021-04-30
Thank You Andrea Morton
I can honestly say before reading this i knew very little about salmon, salmon farms and the huge effect they have on the environment. After reading, it has changed the way I purchase Salmon and how I view the gov'ts connection with the Department of Fisheries. It's hard to believe that after the collapse of east coast cod stocks that we're nearly there with salmon on the west coast. It's even harder to believe the lengths industry will go to to silence scientific information.
Great story and a true testament that perseverance pays off.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kayl
- 2022-01-22
Excellent
I am so grateful for all your hard work Alexandra Morton. Thankyou for sharing your story. An amazing read for critical times of wild salmon.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2023-01-22
An absolute must read or listen to!
Amazing account of what has been happening for over 30 years! The insane buracry of all levels of government regardless of party.
Definitely should make a movie of this one!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!