“It’s the personal anecdotes about the more than colourful personalities who inhabited the boats, docks, processing plants, restaurants, bars, and fish-company offices in Vancouver from the 1930s onward that make this book a compelling page turner for anyone interested in Vancouver history.” — Georgia Straight

“Part business story, part social history, and part eco-memoir, the work chronicles the adventures of fishermen on the Pacific Coast and tells the story of a man who spent his lifetime in the fishing industry. Safarik gives an account of the colourful characters he met in his more than 65 years working with other fishermen who often risked their lives for their work.” — Burnaby Now

“Bluebacks and Silver Brights is a riveting memoir set during the pinnacle of West Coast Fishing, and it is a book as likely to stir up nostalgia from the Gulf of Georgia to Prince Rupert as it is to provoke broader public debate.” — Comox Valley Echo

“There are plenty of published memoirs of British Columbia’s fishing industry, but none quite like this. Most are told by the fishers, and generally focus on the salmon fishery. Safarik, however, brings a unique insight into the diverse fisheries that British Columbia’s coastal waters once sustained and the people who caught, processed, and bought them.” — BC Studies