Is it possible for an outsider to move to Maine and make a living catching lobsters? (Bangor: buy, camp)

[AuburnAL]

I mean obviously there's a learning curve (so you might want to work for someone else for a while if possible), but are folks established in the field going to steal from your pots, cut your markers, and that sort of thing to drive you out? Are there available claims to drop pots, or is it a free for all? Nothing I'm planning on doing anytime soon but just curious.

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

I mean obviously there's a learning curve (so you might want to work for someone else for a while if possible), but are folks established in the field going to steal from your pots, cut your markers, and that sort of thing to drive you out? Are there available claims to drop pots, or is it a free for all? Nothing I'm planning on doing anytime soon but just curious.

You would need to get a license to go on your own. Those are hard tocome by now. You need to be a sternman for some one for a while. To just set traps out as a newcomer, would be a great waste of money. They wouldn't last a week. It is very territorial out there.

[Bigfish57]

Not to mention if I am not mistaken you need to live where you fish as well. You can't live in Rockport and fish out of Wheelers Bay. Stern yes, but run a boat I don't belive so.

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

I mean obviously there's a learning curve (so you might want to work for someone else for a while if possible), but are folks established in the field going to steal from your pots, cut your markers, and that sort of thing to drive you out? Are there available claims to drop pots, or is it a free for all? Nothing I'm planning on doing anytime soon but just curious.

Amazon.com: The Lobster Gangs of Maine (9780874514513): James M. Acheson: Books

Avoiding Lobster Wars - Bangor Daily News

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[mainebrokerman]

It is quite a challenge to break into a town/area and start lobstering- i've seen firsthand, a few try do this, and they didnt last long,
Many unwritten rules, in lobstering, such as water/fishing borders-and you have to grow up with the locals to be "accepted" if you want to go lobstering
maybe these rules have diminished in time, you also have to have a license, which isnt as easy as it use to be.

maybe, just maybe, if you worked as a sternman, for a few years under an established fisherman-(got to be known in town) and started with a few traps of your own-see what happens

this may sound territorial to an outsider, but this is thier livelihood-they only have a few good months to make it year-round, they dont like recreation lobstering, and also- many traps that are in harbors, are subject to being broken into by recreation boaters at night (ive seen this firsthand)

Its a tough life, and very hard work, they pay there dues bigtime, to catch lobsters.

[Zarathu]

In a word: NO. In two words: No chance. In three words: Are you nuts? In four words: Very Limited Opportunities Here.

Zarathu

[island mermaid]

Unless you have a family member already fishing with a license, you'll have to work towards an apprenticeship (this means sterning) first for several years and log x amount of hours at sea. Your daily log will eventually be sent to the state. The person you stern with will have to work with you on the daily log and be willing to sign off on on it. Within the daily log, you must report information regarding how many traps were hauled each day, the area in which you hauled, what the bottom was like for each set, what your catch was, as in the amount of pounds landed daily and possibly what the price of the day was. All of this requires a lot of time and work. I believe the log must be sent in to the state at least twice a year if you're sterning with someone that fishes year round.

Only after all of this is completed will you be able to apply for your own license. Assuming you've been hanging around with the local fisherman for all of these years and made good buddies with all of them (not easy), will you be allowed to fish their waters. Yes, in most cases you'll be cut off on a regular basis anyway as undoubtedly you've made a few mistakes along the way and stepped on someone's toes here and there. These are costly mistakes as gear is expensive. Eventually you'll get tired of replacing gear that's been cut off and decide that fishing is not for you.

Our waters everywhere along the coast have been fished by the same families for many generations. Yes, they'll allow a friend or family member to fish along side of them but the new guy out there will not be welcome. If you set over someone, you'll know the next day. Cutting off someone else's gear is illegal but you'll never be able to prove you that were cut off and good luck finding it after you've lost that end trap.

The real question would be "is this going to be worth all of the aggravation, costliness, headaches and sleepless nights?"
With the average boat price right now at less than $3 per pound and the average of cost baiting say only, 500 traps per day costing approx $300 per day. Your call. Your time. Your money.

My 12 year old nephew now has 50 tags. He's fishing only 20 traps this summer out of a skiff. We're funding his little summer job with gear, bait and fuel. He's as happy as a clam, we're going broke.

[mommax3plus2]

just to add to the above
zone c is the only zone in the state that is still open, all other zones have limited entry. in all zones you have to go through the apprenticeship program. you have to put in 200 days and 1000 hours as an apprentice (the log bog reffered to above gets you there). an apprentice can have no traps, so it has to be done with the help of another fisherman. i have seen a few guys that have bought the traps and/or convinced an old timer to take them for no pay in order to get their hours and time in. once your hours and time are in, you are then put on a waiting list for the limited entry zones. theoretically you could go right to fishing in zone c (LOL). depending on the zone you live in, is how many trap tags that have to be retired before you can get a license. it used to be an entry exit ratio of fishermen (for every three to five fishermen that retired, one license was issued in that zone) but now it is a trap tag ratio. again each zone is different, in zone a 2400 tags need to be retired to issue one license. 2400 tags equates to 3 full time fishermen, but often, when you are looking at retirees, this takes a few more than that as a lot of the older guys only fish (and buy) a few hundred tags.
so now you have put in 2 years as an apprentice and several years on the waiting list. you get your license. even though the state has a 800 trap limit, you are not allowed to start with 800 tags. you start with 300 and are allowed to increase by i think it is 100 traps a year each year until you get to 800. then you have to find a place to set. this would be where the NO comes in. lobsterfishermen have been tending this resource for many generations. they have protected it, keeping it from being overfished and made it into good living for those who work at it. there are a lot of unwritten rules that a lot of young/new folks need to learn. lobsterfishermen may be portrayed as lawless and cutthroat, but in fact its a matter of respect- for the ocean, for the resource and for each other. there are too many that believe that the ocean is a free for all- and to some extent it is, but mistakes cost- not just lives. for every mistake made out there, there is some government agency that gets heat from some group, family member or organization that they need to fix it/regulate it to prevent this from happening again. so, although it may seem like greed, there are other reasons as well for protecting their livelihood.

[Maineah]

I had 45 traps I fished down by our camp in South Freeport for about 7 summers. I did it out of a 16 foot aluminum skiff with a 25hp motor and had all single sets.(1 trap per buoy). I knew who was who out in that bay between Wolfe's Neck and Bustin's Island and knew where to fish where I wouldn't bother anyone. I kept to myself and as Island Mermaid says lost money doing it. Bait was expensive, gear is expensive, pot warp, fuel for the boat, batteries for the bilge pump and washdown pump, trap tags had become mandated at that time, and the license itself was over $75.00 then. I didn't do it as an income thing I did it for the lobsters. I traded lobsters for snow plowing, traded lobsters for chickens, part of a pig or part of a beef critter, ate a bunch of them and gave some to family and friends. I'd lose maybe two or three traps a season usually by boats hitting them though I was cut once in a while when I first started. I was down to about 30 traps when the law changed and mandated everyone fish a minimum of 250 (at that time) traps or go to a five trap license. I wrote to Governor Angus King and asked him how my 30 traps hurt anything and wouldn't fishing 250 hurt things more?? I got my license delivered to me in person by the Chief Coastal Warden who said "the squeaky wheel gets the grease". He also hinted that my license would not be forthcoming in a year or two unless I complied with the new minimums. I knew I'd have to eventually go to a minimum of 250 traps in a year or two and I also knew fishing five was a waste of time. It only took two hours to check all my traps and wash down the boat so it was something I could easily do working full time as the camp is only 8 miles from my house. There was no way I was going to invest in 250 traps or buy tags for that many and get caught not owning them. There was also no way I could spend the time required to take care of 250 traps and work full time. I sold the boat and sold my nice old wooden traps one by one to tourists and gave up lobstering. I miss it as it was a nice way to spend time on the bay in the morning or evening and the lobsters were nice to have. I do understand why they pushed people like me out of the industry and went to minimums, apprenticeships and all that but I still liked seeing people like me out there fishing their 25-50 traps and (maybe) making a few bucks on the side in the summer.

[spose]

Great posts, Island Mermaid, Mommax3plus2, and Maineah! Probably not be what AuburnAL hoped to hear, but it is what it is and obviously not as simple or easy as many people think. Lobster fishermen are special people!