Tag Archives: Molly Samuels

More Women Move Into Maine’s Rough And Risky World Of Lobstering

It’s 6 a.m. on a calm morning in Maine’s Rockport Harbor, and Sadie Samuels is loading traps from her pickup truck onto her 28-foot lobster boat. The daughter of a lobsterman, Samuels was born in a nearby hospital and has been on the water here for most of her 25 years. “I’ve been coming out fishing in this harbor since I was born. I came here before I went home from the hospital,” she says. “I had my first student license when I was 7.” Lobstering is physically demanding, dangerous work, and it has traditionally been considered a man’s job. But Maine’s lobster fleet has a growing number of women who, like Samuels, are running their own boats, and busting stereotypes along the way. In 2016, women held 434 of the 5,000-plus lobster licenses in Maine. Audio report, read the story here 19:36