Inuit

This is an alternate historical fiction that takes place in the near future. It's about the effect of global warming on the way of life of the Inuit (Eskimos). As the Arctic ice recedes and the marine mammals go with it, the natives along the coast of Alaska are forced to go farther and father across open water to reach their winter hunting areas. Year-round open water in the Bering Straits facilitates resupply of food and other necessities to the coastal villages. The governor of Alaska has ordered increased traffic in an effort to force the Inuit to have total reliance on the government for their subsistence. One of two protagonists, Brian Dickerson a young tugboat skipper is caught between several conflicting forces as he distributes supplies be haul-barge to the villages along the coast of Alaska. Joe John Taliriktug, native corporation manager for the village of Kotzebue and activist for native independence, forms pirate crews who seek to interdict tug traffic. Joe John is secretly a distributor for a drug cartel which uses the barges to deliver narcotics along the coast. In this role he works for the boss of the cartel - Talmadge (Tal) Livingston, the governor of Alaska. Brian discovers on of his crew is a fed agent while another crew member is in charge of distributing the narcotics contained in their barge. Brian fights pirates, extreme weather, searches for the drug pusher(s) in his crew, and rescues Bobbie Jack Tiedman, the other protagonist, who is injured while searching for the killer(s) of his grandfather. The chief suspect in the killing is Joe John. The tug strikes the ice in the fog and sinks. The salvage crew contains a woman scuba diver with whom Brian has an affair. They ultimately marry. During a big blow, Brian's new tug is blown into the Chukchi sea and is interned by the Russians. After a thrilling chase of Joe John by Brian on St. Lawrence Island, Joe John escapes only to confront the governor who kills him in Nome. She, Tal, is arrested in Anchorage and ultimately goes to prison. Bobbie Jack is the best man in Brian's wedding and begins work to help the natives find an alternate means of winter subsistence.