Mixed messages from the distant past

The striking 16th-century cover illustration of the Algonquian fishermen on Pamlico Sound (special issue on Ecology Through Time, 27 Jul.) looked vaguely familiar. Casting about, I soon found the Summer 1981 issue of Oceanus . Science 's illustration, credited to John White (1585), is so similar to that on the Oceanus cover, credited to Theodor de Bry (1590), that there can be little doubt that one is parent to the other (see the figure). If we accept the dates, then de Bry has embellished and possibly corrected White's portrayal of these early fishing practices. The oddly constructed holding pen in White's illustration has become an elaborate (and more likely) fish trap. Both versions of the scene teem with sea life, but de Bry's much the more so, in seeming contradistinction to the fact that he also has added considerably to the fishing effort. The fish traps line the distant shore in de Bry's version, and many more canoes and spear fishers dot the scene. The point made in Science 's cover caption is that the vision of natural abundance revealed in this long-ago moment in time stands in contrast to contemporary perspectives in which humans are an increasingly dominant and worrisome element. But perhaps de Bry's embellishments hold a deeper message as to why overfishing is the powerful agent of ecological extinction that it has become ([1][1]). The more we perceive our fellow humans to be benefiting from freely available natural abundance, the more we want to believe that the world is constructed so as to invite us to do it too—in short, Hardin's “tragedy of the commons” ([2][2]). To my eye, therefore, the real message of both illustrations is allegorical, embodied in the most obvious element they have in common—the curious image, dead center, of two humans seemingly intent upon burning a hole directly through the bottom of their canoe. 1. [↵][3]1. J. B. C. Jackson 2. et al. , Science 293, 629 (2001). [OpenUrl][4][Abstract/FREE Full Text][5] 2. [↵][6]1. G. Hardin , Science 162, 1243 (1968). [OpenUrl][7][CrossRef][8][PubMed][9][Web of Science][10] [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [4]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DScience%26rft.stitle%253DScience%26rft.aulast%253DJackson%26rft.auinit1%253DJ.%2BB.%2BC.%26rft.volume%253D293%26rft.issue%253D5530%26rft.spage%253D629%26rft.epage%253D637%26rft.atitle%253DHistorical%2BOverfishing%2Band%2Bthe%2BRecent%2BCollapse%2Bof%2BCoastal%2BEcosystems%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1126%252Fscience.1059199%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F11474098%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [5]: /lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiQUJTVCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6Mzoic2NpIjtzOjU6InJlc2lkIjtzOjEyOiIyOTMvNTUzMC82MjkiO3M6NDoiYXRvbSI7czoyNToiL3NjaS8yOTMvNTUzNy8xOTkzLjIuYXRvbSI7fXM6ODoiZnJhZ21lbnQiO3M6MDoiIjt9 [6]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2 in text" [7]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DScience%26rft.stitle%253DScience%26rft.aulast%253DHardin%26rft.auinit1%253DG.%26rft.volume%253D162%26rft.issue%253D5364%26rft.spage%253D1243%26rft.epage%253D1248%26rft.atitle%253DThe%2BTragedy%2Bof%2Bthe%2BCommons%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1126%252Fscience.162.3859.1243%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F9563937%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [8]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1126/science.162.3859.1243&link_type=DOI [9]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=9563937&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fsci%2F293%2F5537%2F1993.2.atom [10]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=A1968C243100008&link_type=ISI