Tag Archives: Lobsterman
Shon Myers, 43, commercial fisherman, lobsterman
He was a commercial fisherman and lobsterman who had a passion for being on the water. He was an artist, musician, writer and photographer. He had an appreciation for knitting. “He was 6-foot 6 and had a smile that would melt your heart,” said his mother, Gayle Myers of Cape Elizabeth. Myers was a skilled lobsterman and commercial fisherman who worked on boats in Maine and elsewhere. He fished in Gloucester and New Bedford, Massachusetts; Point Judith, Rhode Island; Charleston, South Carolina; and Cape Canaveral and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. His mother said he found peace on the ocean. >click to read< 17:52
Lobsterman: Cocaine, booze and sleep deprivation caused at-sea injuries
Lobsterman Jody LeBlanc had been awake for most of two days, snorting cocaine and drinking alcohol aboard the F/V Jacqueline Robin, when he was knocked over by a deck-breaching wave and injured so severely, LeBlanc makes that allegation in a federal lawsuit claiming his injuries are permanent and caused by a reckless culture of drug and alcohol abuse aboard the lobster boat, that “rent” was collected from the crew to buy drugs and booze, and its consumption was “encouraged.” Being litigated in U.S. District Court of New Hampshire, LeBlanc’s suit was filed by Maine attorney Alicia Curtis, who did not respond to a request seeking comment or an interview with her client. >click to read< 15:17
Coronavirus threatens California lobster industry
Roughly 95% of commercially caught lobster in California is shipped to China, where customers are willing to pay premium prices. “Traditionally, Chinese New Year is when we get the biggest price,” says lobster fisherman James Voss. “This year, that happened to coincide with the coronavirus and China stopping all wild animal imports into the country. So our price went from the highest it’s been all year to the lowest.” Photos, >click to read< 14:44
Maine Lobstermen Skeptical Of Proposal To Tie ‘Whale-Safe’ Seafood Label To Use Of New Fishing Gear. They should be.
A movement is emerging among conservation groups to create a “whale-safe” seal of approval for lobster caught with new types of gear designed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. But it could be a tough sell in Maine, where some say the iconic fishery is already sustainable.,, “That’s really important, that fishermen willing to test this gear, and certainly those fishermen fishing with ropeless gear should be rewarded,” says Erica Fuller, a lawyer at the Conservation Law Foundation, one of several organizations suing the federal government for stronger protections of the roughly 400 North Atlantic right whales remaining on the planet. >click to read< 10:36
Facing a declining lobster industry, whale rules, Blue Hill lobsterman has a Plan B
For a 48-year-old lobsterman, Jeremy Tyler considers himself lucky. Aside from shoulder pain and arm numbness that awakens him five or six times a night, the beefy captain and owner of the All-In,,, “I’ve done progressively worse these last three years,” Tyler said. “I was there for the first thousand-pound day in the Blue Hill area. So he and his wife, Megan Tyler, are starting a new business in the first floor of a former floral shop off Route 172 that will combine his lobstering with her experience at restaurants. >click to read< 07:49
Real Maine lobster rolls from a real Maine fisherman
Sadie Samuels, a Belfast native, has been a lobsterman since she was 7 years old on her father’s boat and says the best lobster rolls she eats are ones made fresh from her own catch, with just a little mayo. It was her inspiration for the lobster shack, Must Be Nice Lobster Co., she recently opened along the Harbor Walk. She sells lobster rolls, crab rolls, cheeseburgers and hot dogs. “I just feel like people need a real Maine lobster roll made by a real Maine fisherman,” Samuels said. >click to read< 11:19
Norah Donnell, 11, is fishing traps – and loving it
Just a few months after she was born, Zachary and Stacey Donnell tucked their daughter, Norah, into her stroller, and took her out for her first foray on a lobster boat. She started spending more time on the boat when she was 5. “We’d go out as a family,” her mother, Stacey, said. Fast forward a few years, and these days, Norah, now 11, is a young entrepreneur and lobsterwoman, with four years as a student fisher under her belt. With her father’s help, she fishes 30 traps from her 25-foot lobster boat, Old Memories, out of Wells Harbor. She has a business, “The Lobster Peddler,” >click to read< 10:35
Saugus lobsterman is trying to put his life back together after losing his home and his job
An orange lobster boat “Dependable” sits patiently in the Saugus River. Its captain, George Mabee, is healing from wounds sustained in a house fire two weeks ago and is unable to work. “The season is just starting to kick off now, it’s just picking up,” said Mabee. “Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to be there to do anything because I’m too prone to infection right now. Lobstering is my whole business.” July 29 started off as a normal day for Mabee, a commercial fisherman. But by the end of it, he found himself lucky to be alive. >click to read<19:29
A Fundraiser for Saugus Ma. Lobsterman George Mabee – >click to read<
Steve Holler has been fishing for lobster since he was 14. He’s not about to stop now.
There’s one road into Houghs Neck, Quincy, and if you drive in on a Friday or Saturday in the summer, you’re bound to see the signs: “Lobsters fresh off the boat, 3-6.” Arrows point toward the Maritime Center and down a dock, where you’ll find Steve Holler’s boat, November Gale. Holler is a fixture in Houghs Neck, selling some of the freshest lobsters in the Boston area. He starts back up again June 2, and will keep going through August. Holler, 54, has been a commercial fisherman since the age of 14, when his uncle — a former Navy SEAL — pulled him off the corner, where he was hanging out with friends, and said, “You’re going fishing.”,,, Holler’s idea to sell lobsters fresh off the boat came when he realized he needed to do something different to stay in business. “I’m the only guy who does this, and for a reason,” Holler said. The 19-hour days aren’t for everyone. Still, the creative approach has paid off: It has more than kept his business afloat. He pulled up iPhone photos from some days when the line stretches all the way down the dock and up the beach. click here to read the story 10:01
Gloucester Lobsterman fined $10K for illegal landings in plea deal – Apology to ‘entire fleet’ delivered in courtroom
The Gloucester lobsterman accused of landing 183 illegal lobsters last November pleaded guilty to 20 of the counts, and was fined $10,000. All other charges against him were dismissed under a plea agreement announced Friday in Gloucester District Court. James A. Santapaola Jr., 40, of 16 Forest St., stood quietly before Judge Richard Mori, responding only with a “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir” when asked if he understood the impact of his guilty pleas and whether he had been coerced by anyone into making them. The pleas, fine and dismissals all came through joint recommendations negotiated by Santapaola’s lawyer, Liam O’Connell, assistant district attorney Aimee Conway, and Massachusetts Environmental Police, which had filed the charges at Capt. Joe & Sons Inc. on East Main Street last fall. While Santapaola did not speak, and left the courtroom without making any comment afterward, O’Connell read into the court record a letter in which his client said he was “humbled and humiliated” by the incident. Read the story and apology letter here 08:03
Consider the Lobsterman – Sam Rosen, a fisherman from Vinalhaven, Maine, discusses changes in the industry and how they affect the identity of the island community it supports.
Sam Rosen is a lobster fisherman who grew up and lives on Vinalhaven, a town on an island off the coast of Maine with a year-round population of about 1,200 people. According to Vinalhaven’s chamber of commerce, roughly half of the island’s economy comes from lobster fishing and “related support activities.” For The Atlantic’s ongoing series of interviews with American workers, I spoke with Sam about starting his job at a young age and how he is faring with the obstacles currently shaping the industry. The interview that follows has been edited for length and clarity. Jeremy Venook: How did you get into lobster fishing? Sam Rosen: For most people on the island, regardless of gender, if you have a parent that runs or works on a boat, it’s likely that you’ll spend some amount of your childhood working with them. If you don’t have any interest in it you probably won’t, but most kids that age are into boats and living creatures and whatever. You get to play with fish and crash around in a boat all day. In my case, my dad had me hauling a few traps from the time I was 4 or 5 years old. Then you work your way up to more traps as you get older, and eventually get your own boat. For me, my dad built me a boat when I was 11 or 12. Read the interview here 11:40
Life as a lobsterman: Better times, but it’s still a struggle.
SEABROOK — After a windy morning 9 miles off New Hampshire’s coast, Charles Knowles and his brother transferred 216 pounds of live lobster with their bare hands into plastic bins on Knowles’ docked fishing boat during Wednesday’s lunch hour. Some of his catch was destined for dinner tables this weekend. A man with a winch pulled up several plastic bins from Knowles’ 32-footer at the Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative, nestled between salt flats and Route 1A. For his efforts, Knowles will earn $4.10 a pound — or $886 for the day’s catch. Read the rest here 11:37
Fish like a girl: This 23-year-old lobsterwoman from Maine is her own boss
“When I was younger, I felt questioned by others, like whether I could do this,” Samuels said. “It makes you start to question yourself. I was like, ‘Can I do this? Am I strong enough to lift these traps?’” She made a wide circle and sidled her boat up next to the buoy. “And as I do it,” she continued, “I’m like, ‘Hell yeah, I am.’” “One thing I like about being a girl out here is that they can’t pay me less than a guy,” Sadie Samuels shouted over the grinding sound of her lobster boat’s mechanical pulley as it hoisted a trap up from the bottom of the ocean. Read the rest here 08:29
Long hours, no breaks, tough competition … he loves being a lobsterman
I got to wondering if many commercial fisherman are left in Newport. You rarely see them now that the waterfront has been taken over by yachts. But it turns out about 30 commercial boats are still holding on. They’re mostly lobsterman and they park at the end of Long Wharf on the way to Goat Island on a big concrete piece of real estate called the State Pier #9. I went down and found one – Denny Ingram, 57, who’s been lobstering for 25 years. It’s hard work, long hours, and you don’t get rich so I began by asking why he’s still at it. Read the rest here (photo Newport Lobster Shack) 10:24
Steve Train, lobsterman
Dropping out of college doesn’t lead to financial hardship in every case. When Steve Train, 48, left Northeastern University in Boston as a young man, he had only 12 courses left to take before he would graduate with a business degree. By then, however, the Long Island resident had decided he wanted to be a lobsterman. So he decided to spend his limited funds on buying more lobster traps and a larger boat, rather than pay for college tuition for a degree he would never need. Read the rest here 14:51
Lobsterman, Beverly at odds over mooring – To be blunt, Beverly Solicitor Roy Gelineau sounds like……
BEVERLY — A local lobsterman is fighting his eviction from a Beverly Harbor mooring slip, claiming that city officials are using his history of late fee payments as an excuse to begin clearing working boats like his from the waterfront — a claim the city’s attorney called “utter nonsense.” City Solicitor Roy Gelineau was blunt: Zdanowicz’s late payments are “chronic.” Although Zdanowciz paid his late slip fees in June, the city last month moved ahead with the process of booting him from the harbor, citing his long history of late payments and the legal costs of recouping those fees. And if he doesn’t move the boat, the city solicitor warned in a July 18 letter, the city will have the U.S. Marshals seize it — and send Zdanowicz the bill for that, as well. more@salemnews
