“To succeed at fishing, one must be creative and constantly find ways to outsmart nature.”

Newfoundland captain and fisherwoman Tracy Button adds another dimension to her thoughts on the career path she’s chosen: “Fishing is a fine way to exercise my gambling instinct,” she says.

That’s why fishing people are among the most interesting people in the world. In Sea Folk, Jim Wellman recounts the stories of twenty-three men and women who make their living from the sea and introduces the reader to some of the most courageous and creative gamblers from Atlantic Canada. A departure from Wellman’s critically acclaimed Final Voyages series, this book explores the lives and livelihoods of people who prosecute the fishery both on shore and off. Originally published as human interest stories in the Navigator magazine—the voice of the marine industry in Atlantic Canada—these biographies now appear for the first time in book form.