The fisherman’s way of life, always at the mercy of the violence of the elements, is disappearing. Fishing over the last fifty years has been completely transformed by industrialization, and small-scale coastal fishing is today in decline. Yet many of the old rituals remain – memorials for those lost at sea, carnivals and festivals. This beautiful book celebrates this harsh and singular world, and reveals the poetry of its everyday and functional objects. Marie-France Boyer takes us on a voyage to fishing communities on the coasts of the North Atlantic and the shores of the English Channel and the North Sea. She takes us to the heart of our memories, traces of a seagoing world which is both familiar and romantic. Lines, nets, lobsterpots, marker flags, buoys and anchors – from Boulogne to Biarritz, from Fécamp to Folkestone, from Maine to Norfolk, an ancient repertoire of images, full of richness and power, lingers on.