The race to control, protect and profit from Earth's new blue frontier

THE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER 'Powerful reportage...awash with wonderful obscurities' The Sunday Times 'A comprehensive investigation of the staggering damage we have done to the world's oceans and its life forms' Observer 'A vital, fascinating, deeply researched exploration of Earth's last wilderness... Shocking and starkly 'illuminating - a must-read' Gaia Vince The ocean covers seventy per cent of the surface of our planet, and two thirds of this lie beyond national borders. Owned by all nations and no nation simultaneously, these waters are home to some of the richest and most biodiverse environments on the planet. But they are also home to exploitation on a scale that few of us can imagine. Here, industry and economic progress rule and lax enforcement and apathy are the status quo. Out of sight and often out of mind, a battle rages to control, profit from, protect, or obliterate the world's largest, wildest commons. Heffernan sets sail on a journey to uncover the truth behind deeply exploitative fishing practices, investigate the potentially devastating impact of deep-sea mining, and hold to task the Silicon-valley interventionists whose solutions to climate change are often wildly optimistic, radically irresponsible or both. The result is a forceful and deeply researched manifesto calling for the protection and preservation of this final frontier - the last vestiges of wilderness on Earth.

"Powerful reportage...awash with wonderful obscurities" - Sunday Times

"There's a lyrical quality to Dr Heffernan's description of the diversity of marine life, and an ease with which she alternates science with historical nuggets" - Irish Times

"In her bold investigative book, Heffernan takes the reader on a journey like no other...a must-read book that will speak to everyone" - Nature

"Compelling ... admirably clear-eyed, refusing the easy consolation of toothless treaties and mollifying pabulum from politicians" - Economist

"A comprehensive and disturbing investigation of the avarice and lawlessness that now afflict our ungoverned oceans; it took men and women a long time to comprehend the wonders of the deep but only a very brief period to begin their destruction. As to the cause of this oceanic crisis, The High Seas is clear ... this is a stark, grim story, succinctly told by Heffernan [and] it is hard to disagree with." - Observer

"Fast-paced, thoroughly reported and deeply disquieting" - Science News

"A wonderful and eye opening book ... [The High Seas] is an impressive and sweeping study, ranging masterfully across time and space" - Intelligence Squared

"The High Seas features a huge array of stories, brilliantly encapsulated in one book ... it's a fantastic and chilling read that takes us on a remarkable journey" - talkSPORT Book of the Week

"A powerful, detailed and important book" - Dive Magazine

"Olive Heffernan has written a sobering account of the threats to marine life [and] was certainly not content to splash in the shallows when researching this book. The High Seas doesn't sugar-coat the tough reality facing our oceans and Heffernan has delivered a passionate and persuasive polemic, one that often feels as shocking as a bucket of cold water to the face" - Business Post

"Fascinating" - Demystified at Dublin City FM