Tag Archives: lobster fisherman Michael Sullivan
Watching my brother-in-law build his lobster traps by hand taught me the value of old ways
As a kid, I remember lying across the seat of a white rowboat in the hot sun during my summer holidays. In 2006, what seemed like a lifetime later, I was having one of my first quick chats with my future brother-in-law, on the weekend that he and my sister Kathy were getting married. Michael Sullivan is a lobster fisherman. Wearing his preferred black ball cap and sporting a chevron mustache, he catches enough lobster and fish to make a living. He told me about his greatest heartache, that the lobster fishery is a disaster, with catches getting smaller and smaller. But two daughters and 11 years later, things had taken a surprising turn. Michael had been upping his catch, substantially, every year. He had gone back to the “old ways” — building his own wooden traps. Photos, >click to read< 09:01