Capt. Sean Dwyer is born into chaos -- a family crab boat is lost at sea, and his father passes away too soon; Capt. Sean turns tragedy into triumph, transforming the family business into a fishing empire and raising the bar for a new generation.

With Mandy alone at the helm, a freak accident threatens the Northwestern crew; Jake faces a life-and-death decision when a shifting stack threatens to capsize the Saga during a storm; a look at how Greenhorns are trained.

Captains prepare for the final winter dash, as crews scramble to finish strong, in spite of rookie mistakes, fatal flaws and Mother Nature.

As smoke fills the Wizard, the Colburns face a dark ship nightmare; towering breakers shatter Jake's anchor forcing him to fight to avoid the rocks of St. Paul Island; battered by relentless seas, Sig turns to family to fill the Northwestern's tanks.

As crabs become elusive, veterans Sig Hansen and Harley Davidson form an unlikely alliance, but trust doesn't come easy to old-school captains; Freddy pays a price for Keith's decision to haul in intense seas; Jake tempts fate to become a boat owner.

Monte returns to co-captain the Wizard just as storms slam the fleet from the south; Jake battles the risk of hauling pots in 30-foot seas to return to his family; Wild Bill drives farther north into the icy Arctic than any other boat.

The fleet battles a freight train of back-to-back storms; Sig's crew pays a price for stuffed pots; Harley risks gear on an elusive hoard under the ice; Freddy attempts self-surgery on the Wizard; the Summer Bay crew gets news on Nick's future.

Deckhands pay in blood as captains make up for time lost to the storm; on the Cornelia Marie, Josh takes the wheel as Casey conducts surgery at sea; Brenna A tests the mettle of a former Marine; a call from home has Sig facing a worst-case scenario.

In storm-driven seas, Cornelia Marie's crane goes off the rails, smashing Josh and Casey's wheelhouse and injuring deckhand Taylor; Sig risks navigating a rocky passage in treacherous conditions, and the Wizard crew face a rogue wave without warning.

As arctic super-storm Elsa intensifies, a forecast warns of isolated waves of unusual size; trapped in the crab-rich northern grounds, the Cornelia Marie, Wizard and Southern Wind haul pots as big as the waves, until one boat faces a 60-foot monster.

The wrath of Arctic Storm Elsa hits the Cornelia hardest as a breakaway pot thrashes Josh and Casey's crew; Capt. Keith orders deckhands onto the stack as Elsa's icy blasts threaten to capsize the Wizard; the Saga takes a rogue wave.

Josh and Casey haul their all-time biggest pots, starting a rush to the Russian line; Capt. Bill gets inside intelligence, while Harley confirms numbers his own way; Arctic Storm Elsa builds in fury, casting a deadly spell over the fleet.

Josh and Casey risk a 500 mile trek north to the Russian line; Jake tracks a fast-moving crab horde; Sig does double duty on the Northwestern; the Bering sea cracks the Wizard's 74 year-old steel hull; the Colburns face the loss of their father.

As winter intensifies, Sean faces an engine-room fire; the Summer Bay deck boss suffers a season-threatening injury; Harley offers a trial run to his nephew; Monte races to fill Wizard's Bairdi quota so Keith can say farewell to their father.

The coldest weather in nearly a decade threatens to crush hulls and freeze the sea; Monte must fill his tanks fast to get home to his ailing father, while a shocking mishap leaves a Hansen family member clinging to life.

With just 10 pots to go, a crushing injury requires a Coast Guard rescue; Josh and Casey face a huge loss when their offload gets canceled; Sig rolls the dice on an early finish, while Monte hauls more crab than the Wizard can hold.

Each skipper's next move determines who survives the final winter dash; winds put the Wizard on a collision course with a monster; Jake taps a Hillstrand to save the Saga; Josh and Casey hit numbers not seen since Capt. Phil.

As the first arctic storm of the season arrives, Saga's deck boss takes a knife to the ribs; Josh and Casey's record-setting haul gets interrupted when a hand gets tangled in the coiler; Capt. Bill takes one last stab at motivating a lazy greenhorn.

Amid the heaviest competition in years, Mandy holds a steady course and hits the king crab jackpot; Jake wins big hauling Sean's pots; Sean faces the long arm of Alaska law when the crab in his tanks come up short.

As the fleet chases the king crab super swarm, a decades-old rivalry heats up between Harley and Keith; Sean and Jake join forces to set down Sig and Mandy; an inattentive greenhorn costs Sean time and money on the Brenna A.

The bone-breaking winter unleashes its fury on the Summer Bay; a rookie mistake leaves Capt. Bill short a hand; Jake hits the jackpot at sea but forces on land cost him dearly; Sean discovers the fatal flaw in his crab count.

The gold rush in Alaska isn't confined to the state's precious ground. It's taking place on the sea ... or more accurately, on the bottom of the frigid Bering Sea. This series, from the creators of the Emmy-winning "Deadliest Catch," follows four gold dredges and their eccentric and driven crews who risk their lives to find as much gold as possible before winter sets in and it's too dangerous to dive. The custom-built rigs, some barely seaworthy, include an 80-foot barge run by the most successful gold dredger in Nome, Alaska, and a modified skiff that seats only two people.

Fishing for bluefin tuna is a way of life for many residents of Gloucester, Mass. "Wicked Tuna" takes viewers into the unrelenting North Atlantic waters infamously spotlighted by the novel-turned-feature film "The Perfect Storm," to follow captains who are relied upon by their families, their shipmates, and by Gloucester itself, to haul in boatloads of the large but elusive bluefin. The pressure to deliver is unforgiving -- the fishing season is short and tuna populations are dwindling -- but one "monstah" catch can reel in just as large of a payday.

When bluefin tuna season ends in Gloucester, Mass., it's just beginning in North Carolina's Outer Banks, a perfect opportunity to pit North vs. South in a pro fisherman contest for the ocean's most lucrative prey. Venturing south are the best crews from Gloucester to take on top local fleets in the treacherous Outer Banks, where the weather is more unpredictable than up north, and the seas can be extremely rough. The Gloucester rod-and-reel vets must master "greensticking" -- trolling artificial squid from a 30-foot fiberglass pole to lure the elusive species to the surface. Top-dollar bluefin can be worth as much as $20,000 each, but a short season and small government catch quota means explosive rivalries surface quickly.

Tradition collides with transformation in McCarthy, Alaska. The isolated town -- once considered to be the state's version of "Sin City" -- flourished during the Gold Rush but is now home to roughly 40 people, a mix of mavericks, risk takers and rabble rousers willing to brave extreme conditions to live free. While some believe in continuing the town's frontier way of life, others feel the future of McCarthy depends on dragging it into the modern age. Long-standing resident Jeremy Keller fights to protect its roots, while Neil Darish has purchased multiple properties in town and plans to restore its vibrancy. "Edge of Alaska" tells the story of a hinterland at a crossroads.

The breathtaking beauty of Alaska sometimes hides the fact its winters can be incredibly harsh, especially for those who live in the state's outlying areas. "Alaska: The Last Frontier" perfectly illustrates this reality, as the series profiles life for the Kilcher family in the isolated community of Homer. For four generations the Kilchers have lived off what their 600-acre homestead has provided, but cultivating that living is never easy. Led by patriarch Atz Kilcher and his brother Otto, the family spends the short summer and fall gardening, hunting and fishing for food, gathering supplies from the land and preparing their animals for the winter. Viewers, who may or may not have a fancy phone by their side while watching on their big-screen high-def TV, also see the Kilchers living off the grid, where running water and electricity aren't daily staples, nor is contact with the outside world. Atz, by the way, is the father of music superstar Jewel.

Back to the beautiful state of Alaska for another reality-documentary series, this one set in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area home to thousands of native animals... and a handful of people. In 1980, the U.S. government banned human occupation in the refuge, and only residents in seven permitted cabins are allowed to remain. The series depicts the daily rituals of four families living in isolation and contending with bitter weather, frustrating setbacks, and aggressive wildlife in an unspoiled and unforgiving wilderness. The nonconformists include Heimo Korth, the "godfather of the final frontier," and wife Edna; Bob Harte, who has spent 40 years living by his own rules; and young couple Bob and Ashley Selden, who admit that they've survived by trial and error, learning day by day the harsh reality of frontier living.