We encourage everyone to take advantage of a unique opportunity to get a closer look at the conditions and issues faced by our fishermen at sea. Swords: Life on the Line chronicles the day-to-day activities aboard a swordfish boat at the Grand Banks. The series features four pelagic longline boats, each of which have a long-standing history of membership in BWFA.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Swords: Life on the Line enters the high-risk world of New England's long line fishermen who risk everything to catch an elusive prey in some of the most dangerous waters on the planet. They are uniformly tough and resilient and they need to be as every day could be their last.

They hunt swordfish - magnificent giants of the deep that can weigh over a thousand pounds. The best time to catch these migratory fish is every Fall when they can be found in the waters around the Grand Banks off Newfoundland and the Georges Bank off the Gulf of Maine. These waters are also home to some of the wildest storms on earth. Cold fronts racing in from Canada meet hurricanes from the south and the results are a truly awe inspiring display of power by nature - the most famous example being "The Perfect Storm" of 1991.

This series follows four boats (The Eagle Eye II, Big Eye, Hannah Boden, and Frances Anne) that head into these stormy waters hoping to hit the jackpot. The skippers of the boats use every ounce of experience and knowledge they have to try and find the fish. The risks are incredible. It costs around $60,000 to make the month-long journey and they need to catch thousands of pounds of fish just to break even. One big fish of the highest quality can be worth thousands so a trip can turn from disaster to success in seconds. Each skipper has his best spots and knows how to read the waters and temperatures to try and find the best fish. Once the fish are caught, it's a race back to market where the first back gets the highest prices. This job is physically and mentally exhausting. Twenty hour days are the norm. Six inch hooks fly off the deck attached to a 40 mile long line and can take a deck hand down 100 feet deep in seconds. Fishing gear can be dragged away and destroyed by monster trawlers from foreign fleets who have no respect for fellow fishermen. And even if the crew catches plenty of fish, they still have to make it home alive.

The rewards are great but the risks are even greater. It's a gamble where lives are on the line.

The third season of Swords: Life on the Line is shown Thursday evenings on the Discovery Channel. Click here to visit the Swords: Life on the Line website. The program is produced by Original Productions. To learn more about them, please click here.