B O O K   R E V I E W

Ins & Outs of Catching Lobster

Piper Tom Seymour playing Uilleann pipes. Fingering the chanter and operating one of the four regulators with the heal of the right hand. The bag that provides the air is under the right elbow. Tom Seymour photo

How To Catch A Lobster
In Down East Maine
by Christine Lemieux Organo
The History Press 2012
160 pages, $16.99

Cutler, Maine, native Christina Lemieux Oragano probably could have written an instruction manual for lobster fishing. She, like a lot of the most skilled lobstermen, started at an early age. Starting at 10 years old she fished with her father when not in school. As a fourth-generation fisherman, she would have been surrounded by family, extended family and friends immersed in the methods, culture and traditions of lobster fishing.

How to Catch A Lobster In Down East Maine is not a how-to manual. It is more about how lobster is caught, who catches them, the depth and breadth of knowledge and instinct required to do it well, what it means to the communities that catch them and how it sustains the independence, culture and traditions in Maine.

Experienced lobstermen may already know a lot of what they read in this book, but it may be interesting for them to know how m uch a lot of the other lobstermen know. (There is a photo of 5ish-year-old Organo and her brother, hauling a miniature lobster trap into a miniature skiff on the lawn of their home. Their father and grandfather also built a miniature wharf and bait shack to go along with the lobstering.) There are not a lot of occupations left where children grow up around the parents’ occupation or family business. In the days of the small farm it was more common.

Lobster fishing far Down East, where the world’s highest tides are running into and out of the Bay of Fundy, presents unique challenges. About 120 billion tons of seawater passes into and out of the Bay of Fundy twice every day. The highest recorded typical tidal range there is 55 feet. The highest tide ever recorded there was in October 1869. A tropical storm known as the Saxby Gale brought a high tide of 71 feet. The peak of the average single family American home is probably less than 25 feet. This aspect of the book could be less known and of interest to the experienced lobstermen on the western half of the Maine coast.

Oragano also picked up writing skills along with her fishing knowledge. Well written, engaging, comprehensive and at times entertaining all apply. The book is aimed at a broad audience. The experience of the far Down East highliner lobstermen going head to head with Canadian lobstermen in the tidal rips of the “gray zone” that straddles the Hague Line which separates U.S. and Canadian waters is not typical of the Maine lobsterman. Experienced fisherman would find the drawing illustrating the parts of a lobster and the diagrams of lobster trap configurations elementary.

Beginning with lobstering history and statistics the book goes on to describe some less known fishing strategies and lobster behavior, but not before a little humor like the questions you never ask a lobsterman: How many lobsters did you catch today? Or the the silliest questions lobstermen are asked: Why do you park all your boats in the same direction in the harbor? Later chapters cover the need for knowledge of the local bottom and high-speed tide changes. The many things that lobstermen do in the course of fishing are not common knowledge outside the industry. Oregano gets into them as well as the written and unwritten rules, marketing, endless tasks, boat maintenance and of course lobster boat raving. Lobster fishing is much more than throwing a trap over the side, pulling lobsters out and picking up money at the wharf. That’s the easiest and least of it.

The title could have been, Everything you need to know about how lobster is caught in Down East Maine. It’s that breadth that make it a credible primer for the 10-year-old enthusiast. There is also something for the 18-year-old apprentice or the curious fisherman wondering if there is something he might have missed.

More broadly, there are thousands of Maine coastal residents who do not fish, but are aware that this is the industry of the coast. It is the industry that helps keep the coast a coast of communities. Most of these readers could learn something about what they see most days. There are also millions of visitors to Maine every year who are consumers of lobster and admirers of the lobstering life. Those readers could learn a a lot about lobster fishing and gain a greater respect for lobster fishing.