The Line: Doyle's Revenge

The "Line" was an artificial barrier more than one hundred miles off the coast of New England that separated American and Canadian fisheries resources. It was established in the 1980s by the International Court in the Hauge, hence the name "the Hauge Line". Nearly from the outset it became a tempting target for American fishermen, but when the Atlantic scallop resource collapsed on the American side of the Line, desperation tempted American fishermen to flirt with ruin or worse to maintain their livelihood. Enter Mike O'Malley, who lost a dragger to unscrupulous culprits eight years before. He had tried to make it ashore, but the sea was in his blood so he would try fishing once more, this time as a Scalloper. At first befriended and then sacrificed by a greedy competitor, Mike risks it all for his crew, his boat and a woman and once more nearly loses his life in the bargain. Sea chases and storms, hard work, betrayal and friendship, fishing is all this and more as related in this emblematic tale of the irrepressible New Bedford Scalloper.