Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund Tells the Story of: Unlikely Allies and Success of Oceanic Proportions
September 9, 2025 | 3 min to read
In *Sea Change: Unlikely Allies and a Success Story of Oceanic Proportions*, Amanda Leland and James Workman reveal a transformative narrative about overcoming the crisis of overfishing. The book focuses on Buddy Guindon, a Texas fisherman who evolved from resistance to advocacy, showcasing how unexpected partnerships have revitalized the fishing industry. It emphasizes that through innovative solutions, there is hope for ecological restoration, affirming the importance of protecting marine ecosystems for future generations.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For decades, overfishing seemed an inevitable tragedy. Fish stocks were collapsing, coastal economies were failing, and policymakers were trapped in a cycle of ineffective bans and short-term fixes. Ocean decline felt like yet another chapter in the global tale of environmental doom.
Sea Change: Unlikely Allies and a Success Story of Oceanic Proportions by Environmental Defense Fund Executive Director Amanda Leland and James Workman is the captivating, deeply human tale of what happened instead, not just at a policy level, but in the lives of the very people on the front lines of this crisis. One of them was Buddy Guindon, a Texas Gulf Coast fisherman who lived through the collapse, fought against the changes meant to fix it, and ultimately became one of its most vocal champions.
Exploring a victory for the world’s most vital ecosystem, Sea Change tells the story of unlikely partnerships and surprising solutions that are quietly revolutionizing the fishing industry, demonstrating that success is possible, that the time is now, and the methods are here to conserve our natural world and the people who depend on it.
Sea Change: Unlikely Allies and a Success Story of Oceanic Proportions
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Pub Date: September 30, 2025
ISBN-13: 979-8890920409 (HC), 979-8890920287 (PB) Available from https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-Unlikely-Success-Proportions/dp/B0F52FWYTR/, barnesandnoble.com and bookshop.org
About the Authors
Amanda Leland fell in love with the sea at 5 years old, when her grandfather taught her to fish. She has since gone on to get her master’s degree in marine biology, work as a marine mammal zookeeper, take more than 1,000 scuba dives, and kayak every chance she gets. As Executive Director of Environmental Defense Fund, Leland brings unlikely allies together to find ways that work to support healthy communities and economies while reducing climate impacts. She previously led EDF’s Oceans program, a global team in 14 countries focused on reversing overfishing while supporting those whose livelihoods rely on fish, triggering the dramatic economic and ecological recovery of U.S. fisheries and beyond.
James G. Workman is a storyteller whose work with hunter-gatherers has sparked new thinking about how we replenish the wild. Drawing from indigenous resilience strategies, he wrote the award-winning book Heart of Dryness and founded the water credit trading firm AquaShares. Workman studied at Yale and Oxford and taught at Wesleyan & Whitman colleges, but his real education came from blowing up dams, releasing wolves, restoring wildland fires, guiding safaris, smuggling water to dissidents, breaking down in Africa’s Kalahari Desert, and becoming a husband and dad (not ranked in that order).
For more information, visit https://prbythebook.com/experts/james-workman-and-amanda-leland/.
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