From the publisher's promotional materials: "The first Japanese immigrant came to British Columbia in 1877 and was soon followed by others, many of whom took up commercial fishing. Over several generations, fishing the BC coast became a way of life for these families and their numbers swelled into the thousands. During WWII, their boats were confiscated and they were forcibly removed from the coast, but after the war many returned and took up their old trade. Fishing was more than a job for these families; it was central to the Japanese-Canadian experience in British Columbia. With the dawn of the new millennium, a sea of aging faces and changing times led many Nikkei to the realization that the fishing industry as it was had come to an end on the BC coast. To make sure the sacrifices and hardships endured by the older fishermen are never forgotten, the Nikkei Fishermen Reunion Committee was formed. A book committee was struck several years later and the gargantuan task of collecting 3,524 names and 750 biographies and photographs was undertaken." -- Harbour Publishing