Working the Tides: A Portrait of Canada's West Coast Fishery

Patrick Colgan is the executive director of the Canadian Museum of
Nature in Ottawa.

Most of this book consists of material taken from Westcoast Fisherman.
The selections are grouped by type of fishing—such as trolling,
netting, and diving—and are replete with accounts of powerful nature,
wrecks, grit, hardships, ghosts, and changes in the fishery over the
decades. The social history highlights such themes as intense
competition between boats, internment of Japanese Canadians during World
War II, women running their own enterprises, and patent fights over
gear. There is a diversity of local scenery, jargon, crusty and salty
characters, and tragedy and humor. The text is well illustrated with
large and dramatic black-and-white photographs and drawings, plus maps
and an index. (A glossary of terms would have been helpful.)

Working the Tides will appeal to fishers, naturalists, and lovers of
the West Coast.