My friends Warren and Grace Young are lobster fishermen located in Seal Cove, Maine. Warren is from a family of lobster fishermen; the trade, love of the ocean and all its creatures, and hardworking spirit has been passed down from generation to generation. Now Warren and Grace are having their own little one who will hopefully, one day, be able to share in this long standing tradition that is being threatened to extinction.
The Maine lobster fisherman is a traditional Maine occupation, when you think of the Maine coast you think of beautiful cliffs, quiet harbors, lobster boats, docks, traps, buoys, and hardworking men and women. This way of life is being threatened in recent years by housing costs increasing and out of staters pushing locals out of the places their families have lived for generations. The rising costs of fuel and gear needed to fish, and the increase in regulations and disinformation about the impacts of lobster fishing on the wright whale population are all contributing to this threat of extinction. All of these challenges combined have made it hard for 4th generation lobster fishermen like Warren to be able to sustain this way of life into the future. How can we continue to keep Maine “the way life should be” and keep generational lobster fishermen in business, providing for their families, and caring for the creatures of the ocean?
