Hunting for the Motherload of Mackerel and a Hull Full of Herring, New Canadian Series COLD WATER COWBOYS Casts a Net in the North Atlantic, Feb. 25 on Discovery

- Viewers can get "lured" in with LIVE tweeting with the fishermen @ColdWaterCowboy during each week's 10 p.m. ET broadcast -

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TORONTO, Jan. 28, 2014 /CNW/ - A vocation passed from father to son, the fishermen of "The Rock" have spanned generations. But disaster struck in 1992 when the cod stock collapsed and a moratorium was declared, effectively shutting the fishery down overnight.  Many left the life of the sea… but not the Cold Water Cowboys. Premiering Tuesday, February 25 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Discovery, this original Canadian 10-part series by Paperny Entertainment journeys to Newfoundland to meet these men with salt water in their veins, and follows them through one intense fishing season.

Following six captains and their crews, Cold Water Cowboys ventures hundreds of kilometres offshore in the North Atlantic, facing swells as high as houses and icebergs the size of small cities. A time-honoured industry in the midst of an unprecedented sea of change, these captains are stubborn men who stuck to and survived this calamity by retooling and rebuilding the industry on new catches: crab, shrimp, turbot, herring, and mackerel. It's a tough job - tough on the boats, tough on gear, tough on the human body - but these bred-in-the-bone fishermen will never trade their boats for boardrooms. Hometown pride and friendly competition rule the day, but when push comes to shove, they're all part of the same fiercely-protective fishermen's fraternity.

Still, there are countless challenges. The fishing season is a race against time…and other boats. There's only so much to catch, and little time to do it. Plagued by mechanical failures or damaged gear; icebergs and hurricanes; and the uncertainty of just where exactly the catch is hiding, every day is a high-stakes game in the life of an Atlantic fisherman. But the goal is always the same: fill the hatch and make money - as much and as fast as possible.

Highlights from the first episode of COLD WATER COWBOYS:

Cold Water Cowboys: "Go Hard, Go Fast"
Tues., Feb. 25 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT
Aboard Midnight Shadow, Captain Richard Gillett is risking boat and crew to reach the rich crab grounds before his competition, but to do so requires punching through kilometre after kilometre of ice. Gillett knows firsthand it's a dangerous strategy - in 1996 his boat struck an iceberg and sunk. As first mate on Seadoo, Conway Caines knows if they don't make money this season, they're done. But with everything from sharks in the seine to disappearing capelin setting them back, Murphy's Law is conspiring against them. As captain of Justin & Jason II, Paul Tiller has a small boat and an aging crew, so he knows he'll have to push hard to get his crab for the year. But before he's caught a single crab, a rogue wave snaps his stabilizer in half and destroys his hopes for a strong start out of the gate.

To view the complete release, bios and episode descriptions, and access photography, go to http://bellmediapr.ca/Network/Discovery/Cold-Water-Cowboys

Image with caption: "Captain Richard Gillett, featured on Discovery's COLD WATER COWBOYS (CNW Group/Discovery)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140128_C5749_PHOTO_EN_36000.jpg

SOURCE: Discovery

Jodi Cook, Discovery Channel & Factual Networks, 416.384.4603 or [email protected]
Noah Zatzman, Discovery Channel & Factual Networks, 416.384.5903 or [email protected]
Julia Wilkinson, Edelman for Paperny, 604.648.3427 or [email protected]