Panelists Discuss Marine Trades at the Maine Boatbuilders Show

Maine Boatbuilders Show, Portland March 22 - 24, 2019. It was the third year at the show’s new location on Warren Avenue. Fishermen’s Voice photo.

“Changing Demographics in the Marine Trades” was the topic of a panel discussion at the Maine Boatbuilders Show ni Portlasnd on March 25, 2019. Those changes focused on women, minority groups and skilled labor in Maine’s marine industries from boat building to fishing.

“The marine industry in Maine has been experiencing a skilled labor shortage for some time and it is becoming more acute,” said Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) faculty member and panelist Tim Leach.

Panelist Maine state representative Genevieve McDonald lobster fishes out of Stonington, Maine. She spoke of her experience in the apprenticeship program, getting a lobster license, buying a boat and making a living lobster fishing. Fishermen’s Voice photo.

One of the panelists, Shelly Contantonio, spoke of the difficulty she faced breaking into what she described as the male world of the boat building industry. Contantonio had worked on tall ships and is now a freelance yacht finisher at Rockport Marine. She said that having started her own business she is less subject to what she described as the male culture of the typical boatyard.

Elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2018, panelist Genevieve McDonald is the captain of the lobster boat she fishes out of Stonington, Maine. She has spent her adult life as a commercial fisherman and, more recently, as an outspoken fisheries advocate. She started her lobstering apprenticeship when she was 23 years old. McDonald recalled going to the bank to get a loan to buy her first boat. She said she had everything that should have qualified her for a loan. But the loan officer said he “didn’t think she was serious about fishing because she had a college degree” and turned her down. Coastal Enterprises Incorporated in Brunswick later helped her get her first boat loan.

McDonald said fishing is a demanding occupation, but for her it also incorporates the flexibility to include the other demands of life from children to doctor appointments to family life. She noted that “the price of lobster at any given time is the price paid,” so hourly wages are not an issue in lobster fishing. McDonald referred to glass ceilings being broken in many areas for women today.

Skilled labor is addressed at the MMA, said Tim Leach, by emphasizing to students the importance of trying to make a difference on a job by doing it well. Leach also noted that the Academy has been racially inclusive and more women are becoming a larger percentage of the population there. The panel moderator, Molly Eddy, also teaches at MMA.

Hawaiian-born Nathan Pablo now operates Calendar Islands Sailing Company in Portland. A self-described brown person of color, said he had experienced racial discrimination in boatyard jobs over the years, but thought that to be less so in Maine.