Want Maine Lobster for Dinner? Go Catch it Yourself!
by Dory Larrabee
While most 21-year olds stumble into bed around 4 a.m., this summer I experienced something very different. I woke up at 4 a.m. My step-brother Rob Hudson is a lobsterman who fishes off the coast of Maine, where we live. His boat is docked out of Goose Bay, Maine, near the famous and tourist hot spots Boothbay and Bar Harbors. So, one random day, my best friend Monica and I braved the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of experiencing what it would be like to be a “lobster people” for two days. We left the house at 4:30 a.m. and stopped for some very necessary coffee at a gas station that, as far as I was concerned, was way too crowded at that hour of the morning. We drove 45 minutes until we got to the Bay. It was still dark at the dock, but we were looking forward to embarking on the journey that not many, even Mainers, get to experience. Rob, who just turned 29, is one of two younger lobstermen who have to row out to their boats in dinghies. All the other “big-time lobstermen” have motorized boats to get to their lobster boat. Once we got on the boat, named “Dizzy Lizzy” after Liz--his wife of 3 years, girlfriend of 10--we had to put on huge bright orange rubber jumpsuits. Looking around, I tried to take it all in. I saw amidst the dirty, fishy, boat laid thousands of dollars of geological and global positioning equipment. Preparing to put thick rubber gloves on that would protect my manicure, Rob handed me thin white cotton gloves that were soon soaked, cold, and smelly. Monica and I were tasked to be “baiters and banders,” as in put the bait (dead, stinky, juicy blue heron) into bags for the traps, and to band the lobster’s claws that came out of those traps. Soon we were off, the boat rocking and swaying as we hit each new wave. Every now and then I would lick my lips and taste a salty drop of the ocean that had splattered on my lip. We didn’t waste any time, and soon we were pulling our first trap. Rob would reach into the water and grab the trap using a metal hook on the end of a wooden pole. Then the rope would be pulled by an automatic lever. The water we fished in ranged from 80 feet to 300 feet, and the time it took for the trap to reach the surface took between 30 seconds and two minutes. The lobster trap is like a combination of a dream catcher and a rock climbing apparatus—-full of nets, circles, and bungee cords. The trap usually contained about 15 crabs and 2 or 3 lobsters. All crabs are thrown back, as are the starfish, seaweed, and fish that sneak in. The lobsters need to be checked for eggs and measured before they are able to be kept. The fullest trap we pulled had 10 lobsters, and we were able to keep 9. “Eeehawww!” A donkey-like call over the fisherman’s radio signified a big catch. Hearing the lobsterman talk over the radio was like they were speaking their own language. A Maine native, even I couldn’t understand some of the dialect of “down-eastahn talk.” Lobstering is a lucrative profession, but has a high start-up cost to the entrepreneur. Rob has 300 traps, each which costs about $70, not including ropes and buoys. A “big time” fisherman can have up to 800 traps. While riding in the boat, it amazed me that he didn’t crash into the literal sea of buoys. He said about 100 people fish in that bay area. 100 times an average of 500 traps is a sea of 5,000 traps, each colored differently. The colors varied from browns and yellows to neon pink and green. Robs were black on top and bottom with a neon orange strip through the middle and orange handle. After the 2 day experience, we had caught 309 lobsters total which amounted to about 400 pounds. Selling the lobsters was another process, docking at another bay, and weighing the huge, plastic crates. The lobstermen sell for $3.50 a pound, making my cut of the days catch well worth the 4 a.m. wake-up call. Even though I had sea sickness once back on land, had to throw away my clothes, and endured days of a lingering fish smell in my hair, I wouldn’t trade my lobstering experience for anything. I could never do it for a living, but I have a greater appreciation every time I eat lobster.
