Pages: 509
Control over the last great natural resource–the untamed ocean–is the bitterly contested prize that pits three brothers, their waterman father, and a generations-old way of life against each other.
Set on fictional Trappe Island, the novel revolves around the complex issue of overfishing and the depletion of the blue crab harvest during one summer’s devastating drought. Patriarch “King” Kingsley has continued a time-honored fishing tradition, but by doing his job too well he and other watermen have emptied the bay and destroyed their own livelihoods. Species have been fished to extinction, others are on the brink, and the island is sinking.
State-of-the-art computerized nautical technology led youngest son, Sonny, and daughter-in-law, Gail, to overcapitalize in the 90s and now their mountain of debt threatens to sink them. When a spectacular blue crab harvest floods the market, driving down market price, watermen are forced to strike for the first time. A domino effect puts crab picker Gail out of work. Packinghouses and restaurants are next, and as the whole island shuts down, creditors come knocking.
Into this conundrum come sons Don, CEO of a multinational seafood conglomerate, and Peter, an environmental activist. Each brother takes a different, indeed opposite, path to end rampant overfishing and protect the bay he loves. Don tries to push legislation through the statehouse to corporatize fishing with a commodities-based quota system while Peter mounts a campaign to trade shares in catch numbers on a stock exchange.
As the summer heats up, the depth of their desperate situation unfolds, compounding the already strained relationship between Gail and King, who are locked in a lifelong battle for possession of Sonny. Tensions escalate until everyone squares off in the courts and the legislature–brother against brother, and father against son–as the fate of the watershed hangs in the balance.
