Red Gold: The Managed Extinction of the Giant Bluefin Tuna is a book that asks why so many big bluefin tuna have vanished from the Atlantic Ocean. Author Jen Telesca notes that the term “red gold” has emerged out of the exorbitant price her ruby-colored flesh commands on the global market; for reference, in January 2019, a 613-pound Pacific bluefin tuna sold at market in Tokyo for an astounding record of $3.1 million US dollars. To research this book, Telesca gained unparalleled access to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (also known as ICCAT) to show that the institution has faithfully executed the task assigned to it by international law: to fish as hard as possible to grow national economies. This interview between Telesca and editor Jason Weidemann was recorded in May 2020.

More about the book: http://z.umn.edu/redgold

A transcription of this conversation is available: z.umn.edu/t-redgold

Red Gold: The Managed Extinction of the Giant Bluefin Tuna

Mindy Greiling was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for twenty years. She has served on state and national boards of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and is on the University of Minnesota Psychiatry Community Advisory Council. George Realmuto is a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Both George and Mindy are parents of children with brain disease. Mindy’s son, Jim, is 42 and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in his early twenties. George’s daughter, a mother and an award-winning creative, passed away in 2019 as a result of chemical and mental illness. She would be 38 today. Both are here to share their experiences, their expertise, and their hopes for the future of caring for loved ones facing mental and substance use disorders. This conversation was recorded in September 2020.

Resources:
-National Alliance on Mental Illness: https://www.nami.org/
-NAMI Minnesota: https://namimn.org/

On the intersection of mental illness and substance abuse. (Mental Health Series, Part 2)

University of Minnesota Press

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