Between Global Warming and spiking oil prices, we are surrounded by reminders of the waning resources on Earth. For many fishermen along the East Coast, vanishing fisheries have been a reality for quite some time. Starting in 1979, Barbara Mensch documented the death of the Fulton Fish Market in Brooklyn with her Rolleiflex camera. Now her work is being used to show the impact unsustainable fishing can have on the people that rely on it.

 The powerful silver prints come together in the book South Street to tell the story of how the area under the Brooklyn bridge went from a bustling fish market to a mall.

In an interview with Columbia University Press, Mensch described fearing for her life, and her camera in this rough and closed-off community. The product of her efforts, however, is the last reminder of this lost Brooklyn culture.

Her work is on display this summer at the Harbor Works Gallery in Cundy's Harbor, Maine. Perhaps Mensch's images will help visitors to this small fishing village understand the importance of sustainability in New England.

Through regulation of the fisheries and supplements to the area's economy such as tourism and small businesses like the Harbor Works Gallery, these places stand a chance of not becoming malls and condominiums.

For more information about sustainability projects on the Maine Coast visit this site.

 (top image by Barbara Mensch from South Street)

(bottom image by Eugene Ilchenko from Wikimedia Commons)