Wayne Cripps is an Australian author and fourth-generation commercial fisher, born in 1959 in the quaint country town of Toora, Victoria. His family's fishing roots trace back to the 1864 move from Tooradin to the town of Bowen, where they settled after arriving from Cornwall, UK, during the early days of Australian colonization. Growing up in the picturesque fishing village of Port Franklin, Wayne's childhood was marked by the charm of a small community, with a population of only 160 residents. His education began at the local primary school, which catered to a modest group of 14 children. Later, he attended the Leongatha Tec School, where he spent three transformative years of his life. After completing his schooling, Wayne pursued his passion for fishing and worked alongside his father in bay fishing before venturing into the Bass Strait deep-sea shark gill net fishery. Taking to the open waters, he acquired his own fishing boat and spent the next two decades exploring the deep blue ocean.