In a fishing village on the Gulf Coast of Florida, two cultures collide. Those that wish to protect an ocean in peril by restricting the harvest of fish and those who simply want to fish like their daddy did, and their daddy before him. Drew Phillips left the army and returned home where he became a Florida Wildlife Officer. His college buddy, Dr. McKenzie Haymer, heads the National Marine Fisheries office. They are both called to investigate a murder. Someone is killing dolphin. It's a small southern coastal town. It's a New England village. It's a hamlet in Nova Scotia and a protected cove in Oregon. Fishermen throughout North America make a living from the sea, like their father did, and their grandfather, and his father before him. Who knows the bounty of the sea better than those that live, work, and depend upon it day after day? Yet we are told that we are overfishing specific species to the point of collapse. We know we did it to the whale, we did it to the sturgeon, the shark and cod populations are teetering on the brink, are we capable of not doing it again? The Gulf is a complicated marine ecosystem with many stakeholders, users, and complex interests. It's beyond winning and losing, it's about surviving. We are Fishing on The Brink.
About the Author: I like to write about the area and the people that make their living on or near the water. It is such a genuine, bold, and formerly timeless profession. "Fishing on the Brink" is my first book and it investigates different sides of the noble charter fishing business and the conflict generated by attempts to preserve the fishery, by laws, by economic uncertainties, and by normal people trying to make a living like their daddy did, and their daddy before them. The answers are never black and white, and in the gray area you'll find people. Neighbors and good people earning a living in a method they love, who are now stuck between laws, costs, fishery management, history, and pride. They are intrepid. They persevere. They endure. They are survivors fishing on the brink. I was born in North Florida, went to high school in North Florida and returned to live in North Florida at-large. Birmingham was home for the college years, actually the little town of Montevallo south of there. New Orleans was home for shipbuilding years, even South Florida was home for a bit. As they say about the Emerald Coast, "I have sand in my shoes" and it always brought me home. It's really white sand and it stretches along the Florida coast from Apalachicola to Pensacola. You'll find me in the last spot of orange when the sun disappears into the Gulf, in the bait that jumps just before the pelican dives, in the first bite of chilled salty oyster, or in the sound of salt air blowing through the palms. It's all about being here.