Fishing is the most dangerous occupation in the world: in Atlantic Canada, an average of one person dies every month while working at sea. The Deadly Sea by bestselling author Jim Wellman contains twenty-five stories about men and women who work in the Atlantic Canadian fishing industry, ranging from biographies of professionals to tales of tragedy at sea.

In Atlantic Canada, the sea has given generously of its riches. Tens of thousands of men and women make a living from its resources. Some work directly on the water as fishing people, while thousands of others work in fish processing plants. And still thousands more are employed in service industries that are tied directly to the commercial fishery.

The number of fatalities at sea hasn’t changed much in the past fifty years, though the industry bears little resemblance to what it was just a few decades ago. Wooden schooners powered by wind and sail have been replaced by vessels with steel or fibreglass hulls and sophisticated technology, but we are reminded, every month, that new technologies are still no match for the power of an angry ocean.

Jim Wellman grew up in Port Anson, a small fishing and logging community on Newfoundland’s northeast coast. The son of a schooner captain, Jim never strayed far from his marine roots despite choosing a career in journalism. For fifteen years, Jim was host of the popular radio program the Fisheries Broadcast on CBC Radio in Newfoundland. After taking an early retirement from the radio business in 1997, Jim turned off the microphone and picked up a pen. He has written ten books with marine connections. Jim has been contracted by several agencies and corporations such as Marine Atlantic, the Canadian Sealers Association, and Heritage Canada to draw from his marine knowledge, particularly in the fishing industry. Jim became managing editor of the Navigator, Atlantic Canada’s premier fisheries and marine magazine in Nov. 2002, he continues to write the very popular column Final Voyages today, as he has since their first issue.

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