Youth Present Their Industry-changing Ideas at Fishermen’s Forum
by Sarah Craighead Dedmon
Two teams from the Jonesport-Beals High School worked on streamlined personal flotation devices and demonstrated them in the pool of the Samoset Resort. J-BHS student Noah Carver, back, said the Jonesport-Beals community was grief-stricken last fall when local fisherman Scott Chandler fell from his boat and drowned. “That’s why I threw myself into this project,” said Carver.
A Samoset conference room was packed with attendees at last month’s Fishermen’s Forum, and the seminar’s title was phrased as a question — “How do we use technology in any form to contribute to sustainable, safe and thriving local fisheries’ futures?” The answers to that question were delivered by high school students from the Downeast coast.
From building a better lobster trap to apps that connect buyers directly with local fishermen, more than a dozen teams from nine schools stood ready to explain how their technology could improve Maine’s fisheries, as interested adults circled the room. All of the schools are enrolled in the seventh year of the Eastern Maine Skippers program, a curriculum implemented in nine coastal high schools serving fishing communities in eastern Maine.
Two teams from Jonesport-Beals High School responded to a drowning in their community by designing new ways to make light, comfortable Personal Flotation Devices fishermen will want to wear. In late 2018 fisherman Scott Chandler drowned when he fell from his vessel while working alone. J-BHS freshman Noah Carver said that loss hit the Jonesport-Beals community hard, and was part of his motivation in working on the PFD. “He was a great guy,” said Carver.
“Generally a lot of fishermen don’t wear life jackets every day when they’re on the boat, so we wanted to find something that they will wear every day, that’s comfortable,” said J-BHS student Mitch White, holding a pair of orange oilcloth overalls taped in places with black tape. “Right now these just have foam in them, it’s a prototype, but a little bit better of an idea would be to have it so it’s inflatable.”
The Skippers program is a collaboration between the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries and the Rural Aspirations Project. MCCF Executive Director Paul Anderson said the Skipper program runs through the entire school year and is divided into three elements: on the water, at the table and in the office.
“‘On the Water,’ is about getting kids out of the classroom and out on the water to learn boating safety and navigational skills,” said Anderson. “‘At the Table’ is more or less teaching them about the policy arena, and exposing them to how policy is generated.”
The “In the Office” curriculum teaches the youth how to manage a profitable business.
Narraguagus High School students Gabrielle Wood, Aislinn Devlin and Katie Brooks were at the forum to talk about a project that could create new connections between tourists and lobster fishermen using websites, apps, and possibly even a facility where tourists can pick up local seafood.
“Some of these kids are going to be fishing. They already are, or they’re going to be,” said Anderson. “The way fisheries are going, we’re going to need stewards who can step right up to the table and help with policy, help with science, and help with observing what’s going on around us.”
Two teams attended from Narraguagus High School in Harrington, both instructed by science teacher Jenessa Sprague. One of Sprague’s teams came up with an idea for a new smartphone app.
“We’re basically solving the connections between tourists and lobster fishermen,” said student Gabrielle Wood. “There’s no connection with the wharf, and most tourists, or even locals, don’t know to go to the wharf. They’ll just go to the grocery store [to buy lobster].” They’re also exploring the possibility of becoming middle men, paying the fishermen a fair price then processing the seafood and preparing it for customers.
The students also forecasted the budget they would need to create the app, procure necessary food handling permits, a total of $830.
Some schools work the Skipper curriculum into their classroom science curriculum, but most make it happen with a little bit of class time, and a lot of time outside the classroom. Sumner Memorial High School science teacher Morgan Forni said her students are enthusiastic about their projects, and make time for them on a catch-as-catch-can basis.
“It’s all a club, so they get pulled from random classes, after school, or lunch time,” said Forni. “They’re super motivated. We don’t get a lot of class time.”
Her students William Bernier and Paul Blanchette were on hand to present “The Twin Trap,” their design for a lobster trap that will work right side up, or upside down. Blanchette said their research showed lobstermen fishing further offshore often have an issue with traps flipping over in strong currents.
“So you’re losing money cause you’re wasting bait, there’s no lobsters going in, then you have that gas of going out there,” said Bernier, whose father is a fisherman. “If you get multiple traps doing this, it’s a big amount of money lost. Every trap counts.”
Sumner Memorial High School, located in Sullivan, is new to the program this year. Sophomores William Bernier and Paul Blanchette call their technology “The Twin Trap,” a lobster trap that can catch lobster whether it’s upside down or rightside up.
Photos by Sarah Craighead Dedmon.
Having built the skeleton of the Twin Trap, Blanchette, Bernier and their teammates back at school are now trying to figure out where to put the bait. Could there be, they wondered, a way to use a single bait bag for both sides?
“No one wants to use two bait bags, obviously,” said Bernier. “We’re thinking about putting it in the middle, and we’re also going to try it and see if we put one on one side to find out, will they go in on both ends?”
Forni said the next step will be to take the trap to a friend’s house where there are tanks for lobsters. “It’s not legal now. We’re going to throw it in there and see how the lobsters deal with it, testing it. Then we’ll be resdesigning it and presenting it in May at the final Skippers presentation,” said Forni.
Chris Anderson, owner of the Friendship Trap Company, stopped by to talk with Blanchette and Bernier while they stood near their trap. Anderson said he is an unequivocal supporter of the program and has been for many years.
“I think the Eastern Maine Skippers Program is one of the best things I’ve seen in terms of keeping the kids in school, to get the education they need to be better lobstermen,” said Anderson.
Anderson said that a lot of high school kids on the coast have already made up their minds to be lobstermen. When they start fishing in high school, sometimes they’re earning more money than their teachers. There has to be a reason for them to stay in school, said Anderson.
“We know from dealing with the fishermen [at Friendship Trap Company] that the fishermen who are really successful think broadly about their business,” said Anderson. “A lot of that stuff you learn from staying in school, but school has to apply to what they’re doing.” Enter the Eastern Maine Skippers curriculum.
And what does a professional trap business owner think about the Twin Trap’s potential? Anderson says the team is on the right track by attempting to solve for an important industry problem, though he suspects the solution to flipped traps is centered more on proper ballast.
“The real benefit for them is to work through the thought process and the trade-offs, to understand the dynamics of the whole problem of making a trap that fishes well,” said Anderson. “If they go into the lobster business they’re going to have to figure out what they want in a trap, it’s really excellent that they’re tackling those trade-offs right now.”
Congressman Jared Golden (D-ME2) attended the student’s presentations and made a circuit of the room before speaking to the audience. Golden said he has become a proponent of apprenticeship programs like Eastern Maine Skippers since returning from his time in Iraq in the Marine Corps.
“One of the observations I made coming home is that you don’t get a lot of those hands-on training opportunities that you need to be successful. You get into a line of work that’s often sink or swim,” said Golden. “So I’ve taken a real interest in apprenticeship programs.”
Golden mentioned the Young Fishermen’s Development Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and co-sponsored by Golden, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) and Sen. Angus King (I-ME). The act would provide financial funding for initiatives that address the needs of beginning fishermen, like the Skippers program. If passed, it would authorize $2 million per year for a six-year period.
“It would help create grants for programs like this to have a little extra support from the federal government,” said Golden. “I thought it was really important.”