Bret Yager worked as a commercial fisherman for six years in Oregon waters and has won numerous journalism awards for his depictions of this rich and contradictory culture, where nature is both revered and at the same time destroyed. His articles have appeared in numerous regional and national publications.

Writing on the water
“Shrimping season was a great time to write because the weather was calmer than in winter and we had idle time while we were towing the nets. I’d shrimp on the Eddie & Rod in the spring; my brother was the skipper. He’d come down in the galley and say it was time to bring up the gear. I’d throw aside my pen, suit up and go to work. Believe it or not, it was a halfway decent place to be creative; my brother was always filling us in about what was happening on the other boats, the other crewman was always buried in a paperback or a hunting magazine.” –Bret Yager