Q:  [0:00] OK, just to start how do you like to introduce yourself?

 

A:  [0:03] My name is Krista Tripp.  I’m a lobster woman.  I’m an oyster farmer.  I also go elver fishing, and I’m a mom.

 

Q:  [0:16] Great and what year were you born?

 

A:  [0:18] I was born 1985 my birthday is June 1st.

 

Q:  [0:24] Great.  Thank you.  And can you tell me a little bit about where you grew up?

 

A:  [0:27] I grew up down here on the island.  My parents live right next door which is wonderful because my son can go over and visit his grandparents whenever.  And yeah, this has been in my home my whole life.

 

Q:  [0:45] Great and where your parents from and what did they do when you were growing up?

 

A:  [0:48] My mom is from Warren, which is very close to here and my dad is – he grew up down here.  So he was raised here as well.

 

Q:  [1:02] And do you have any siblings?

 

A:  [1:04] I have an older sister, a younger sister and a younger brother.  So I’m child number two, which is the worst.  Yeah, the first born, the middle child and then John is the only boy and then my younger sister is the baby.  So that’s why it’s the worst for me

 

Q:  [1:24] Do any of them fish or work on the water in any way?

 

A:  [1:26] Yeah, yeah, my brother.  He’s a phenomenal fisherman.  He fishes offshore, like my dad.  My younger sister went stern man for a while and my older sister’s dabbled in the fishery, but she she’s mostly been a nurse and a mom, so – yeah,

 

Q:  [1:48] And you mentioned your dad, can you talk a little bit more about him and what he does on the water?

 

A:  [1:52] He – so he’s an offshore fisherman.  He’s a legend.  He’s been fishing for a very long time and he’s very good at what he does, and yeah, he’s been doing it since he was just a wee little boy.  He knew within his life that this is exactly what he wanted to do and he made sure that that he was able to do, like fresh out of high school.  Whereas his sister went to college his brother went to college.  It was something that he just knew he was going do so he didn’t even try the college thing.  He’s like, I’m going be a fisherman and he’s yeah, he’s made it his life

 

Q:  [2:43] Wow, and are any of those people or any other members of your family – do you have any other history of fishing?

 

A:  [2:50] Yeah, so my aunt after she got out of college, she did – I think she opened up a business for herself.  She owned the Dairy Queen in Rockland and then after that she hopped on the lobster boat with my grandfather and was stern man for him for years.  It’s just one of those things once you do it when you’re younger you just kind of always – it gets in your blood and you want to go back and you want to do it.  My uncle, he graduated college and he was really big into to sports.  I think he was a coach, a baseball coach for a lot of the teams around here for many years, but he also went back lobstering and he doesn’t fish offshore, but he’s still a very good fisherman.

 

Q:  [3:37] And do you have any family history of people working in roles outside of directly fishing, for instance, bookkeeping, processing, marketing that kind of thing

 

A:  [3:47] No, no, no none – of none of that.

 

Q:  [3:53] Great and are you married?

 

A:  [3:55] I am married.  Yes.  I am.  We’ve been we got married in 2017 – I think so it’s been God, wow a long time for us.  You don’t even realize how long it’s been until you say it out loud, I guess.

 

Q:  [4:13] Great and do you have any children?

 

A:  [4:16] We have one son he’s two and a half his name is Sebastian and he’s literally the apple of my eye.

 

Q:  [4:24] And would you want – when you picture the future would you want him to go into fishing or another marine related industry?

 

A:  [4:30] I would yeah, I really think that it’s a good way of life, fishing.  I love it and I know that he loves it too already.  So he asks me every day can we go for a boat ride today mom?  So I think that he’ll want to want to do it.  I just worry about, what’s going happen to the lobstering industry and such.  So that’s the reason I diversified into oyster farming.

 

Q:  [4:58] Great, yeah, I want to talk – I want to come back to that really soon.  Yeah, but I’m just curious you does he get out on the water with you often?

 

A:  [5:03] He does, not as often as he would like.  But he does.  He comes out and helps out, he’ll pick up oysters and break them and I haven’t brought him out on the lobster boat yet just because he’s been too young for that.  And there’s so many things that could happen.  I have an old engine so I just didn’t don’t really like that, but on the oyster farm he’s very safe.  He’s a lot safer I feel, and we’re getting a new boat.  So he’s going be even more safer.  So I won’t have to worry

 

Q:  [5:40] Awesome.  Thank you and can you describe your educational background?

 

A:  [5:43] Yes, so I went to school here, I graduated high school in Rockland.  I went to college after that for a little bit.  I loved it.  I loved school.  I was always really good at school.  I was really book smart, I was definitely a teacher’s pet.  I was – I think I got most mischievous, but I was also teachers pet.  I was very I was good in school and college I loved it.  But I got to a point where I just wasn’t sure if I was going to use my degree and there was a lot of people around me at the time that were – I was hearing stories of people graduating and owing so much debt and  they weren’t sure if they were if they were going to do what they wanted in school and they just  – so I just wasn’t sure if it was worth it to me at the time so I got done and I went into fishing and jumped on a boat.

 

Q:  [6:55] And how would you describe your role in fishing and/or aquaculture?  How would you describe that to me?

 

A:  [7:02] My role, I mean, I guess I’m somewhat of an entrepreneur, especially in this area because no one knows about aquaculture here.  And one winter I was interested in it and I took a class at the Island Institute in Rockland and I really liked it and so I started volunteering on an oyster farm every Sunday on my days off from haul.  Haul is lobstering, by the way, so I liked it and then the guy was retiring and gave me first refusal on the farm and I was, I don’t know, I don’t know, if I’m ready to take over a farm as the as a owner and manager but I did a lot of praying around it and at the time lobstering was up against a lot of scrutiny with the windmills and, and whales and still is.  And I thought well, why not try it?  It’s worth the risk.  If you don’t try, you’re never going to get anywhere regardless.  So if I fail, at least I tried. So I bought the farm and I spent every single day out there as long as I could for the first few years after haul, I’d come in, I’d go out to the oyster farm.  I’d be working out there until 8:00 at night.  Getting up at 4:00 in the morning and going to haul and working very long days and, and eventually through just a lot of  talking with other people at different farms and seeing the layout of my farm and learning the tides that are in the river, I decided to set my farm up a little bit differently.  And after I did that – it’s just boom, taking off and we’re very successful now.  I’ve put in a lot of free labor but in any business you have to do that, right? So, it’s been a labor of love, but I’m glad I did it because we’re seeing really good results and a turnover from it since when I first started it.  It was a hobby farm and we’ve scaled it tremendously from where we started, so I’m proud about it.

 

Q:  [9:43] And how many years has that been since you started?

 

A:  [9:47] Six.  This is my sixth year.

 

Q:  [9:51] And how long were you lobstering before that?

 

A:  [9:53] I was actually on a waiting list for lobstering license for 14 years, so I did a lot of work on the back of boats while I was waiting to get my captains license and I finally got my captains license.  And then two years after that I started oystering.  So I – who opens up two businesses at once, two startup businesses.  I’m crazy, I know, I don’t know how smart it was, but I’ve made it work and I just live off the bare minimum and put everything back into my businesses and that’s why they’ve been successful, I think.

 

Q:  [10:32] And you also elver?  You fish elvers too?

 

A:  [10:34] Yes, and elver as well.  Yes.  Yes, and what an experience that as been.  The first year I elvered, I couldn’t believe – I had won the lottery.  I was so happy and thrilled and excited. I was jumping up and down because my father had told me previously, he was like – he’s don’t enter that.  You’re never going to win.  And I was – I’m going to enter just because he told me not to.  And I won and it was amazing because at the time, I was really struggling.  I had my boat, my new boat I was paying for ropes, trap, buoys.  I really needed the money in the spring to put back into my boat to get it running in good condition.  And put back into my gear and my materials so that I could continue building my business.  Without that I wouldn’t be where I am today for sure.  Yeah.  So – but at the beginning, I didn’t know anything.  I was what is this elver stuff,  this industry I know nothing about.  It’s not something I grew up doing.  I never even heard anyone really talk about it very much, elvering, which surprises me, because then I found out that I know people that elver around here and they’re just very secretive about it, I guess.  I was why did this never come up in conversation?  So I had a lot of learning to do in the beginning.  I got a little spot all to myself and it was good for the first year.  I was able to catch my quota that first year, right in that  spot, but the second year that spot dried up.  And I was, OK, now I got to start looking in different areas to try to catch my elvers.  I had to start traveling north and meeting new people and going into the different territories, which was kind of scary, because you hear about really dangerous things that have happened to people and I just didn’t know what to expect.  So I tried to go with someone as much as I could the first few years, but – and I was dipping and then I got pregnant.  And I was crawling around jagged rocks and, climbing up and down huge, steep, very steep hills to river banks.  And I was, this is so dangerous.  I can’t do this next year.  And so I applied for a fyke net (sp?) the following year because I was just, I was really lucky I didn’t fall and get hurt.  And that year, I didn’t have help with my husband.  He was fishing and he couldn’t help me.  So I was I was alone and, that was scary, but I was like, I have to make this money.  I have to go do this.  I have to catch my eels.  So I got through that year and it was a rough, rough year finding eels that year.  I think that’s, I think that was the year of COVID, too, even, I can’t remember to be exact because they all my years just kind of run together at this point.  But yeah, after that, I got a fyke net. (sp?) And then I was, OK, so now I got a fyke net, (sp?) still no idea what I’m doing.  Trying to – how do I set this up?  And I have a newborn baby that needs to be breastfed.  And so luckily that first year, I think my husband was home to kind of stay with the baby as I tended my net or he would come with me and we have the baby sleeping in the truck while I tended the net.  This year –last year, he was gone and I was alone with the baby and it was terrible.  So I found a young girl to help me tend my net, which was so wonderful because I don’t know what I would have done without her.  But my son would be screaming and crying he was, he wasn’t used to her and her holding him and so we were trying to juggle that.  And so a lot of the times, I was just  – I was just stressed.  I was, how am I going to do this?  But I got through it.  I got through the year and she was wonderful.  If it wasn’t for her, I’d be so screwed, excuse my French, but I would have been, because I didn’t know how to check a net by myself.  So this year I did everything by myself.  My husband was home, so I was lucky enough that he helped me set up my net but he had to go fishing.  So I was left alone again, but my son is old enough.  So he’s – and I have a child lock in the back.  So I can put up the middle part and he hasn’t figured out how to put the middle part down, to get into the front seat.  So I’m, OK, this is working.  I just put the window down a little bit and he, so he could watch me check my net in the river, which he loves.  He’s yelling out the window the whole time but he – yeah, he’s, he was really good this year and it just, it worked really well this year with him being older and stuff.  And now I’m a little bit more seasoned, so I can do things on my own, and it’s not too big of a deal.  So – yeah.

 

Q:  [16:50] Yeah, and how do you foresee looking towards the future?  Do you think he’ll end up helping you or where do you think that’ll look?

 

A:  [16:55] I think that he’ll definitely be helping me.  He loves to help.  He’s – I just saw someone today.  It was does he help you?  And he’s, yeah, I’m a good little helper.  He goes so he – he just, yeah, he’s definitely going to be a good help.

 

Q:  [17:16] Great.  And sort of moving back to when you started fishing in all these different capacities, what really hooked you?  What made you want to go fishing?

 

A:  [17:23] So I grew up on an island and we live out there every summer and I was a teenager at the time.  So I was really, I would get bored.  We were out there and the beach was fun, collecting seashells was fun, swimming was fun, all that stuff was fun.  Finding mice, chasing mice with my dog.  All that stuff was fun, but  I would get bored.  And so then my dad got us a boat and we all shared the boat and I just could not wait to get up in the morning and go fishing because I just felt when I was fishing I was doing something exciting.  I was productive, there was reward at the end of the day when you go to sell your lobsters.  It was just, it was really fun and exciting for me.  I got to run a boat.  And so I just, I fell in love with that at our early age really, really early.  It gave me something to do and – yeah.

 

Q:  [18:46] And so what are all of the licenses that you hold now?

 

A:  [18:48] I hold a lobstering license, a oystering license, or aquaculture license and an elver license.

 

Q:  [18:58] And with a lobster, do you fish inshore or offshore?

 

A:  [19:01] I fish inshore.  Yeah, I’m pretty close to home for the most part.

 

Q:  [19:07] And do you own your own boat?

 

A:  [19:09] Yes, yes.  It was my grandfather’s boat.  He passed and I – oh my God, it was such a God thing.  It was crazy.  My grandfather passed and I got my license the same year that he passed.  And I was – I was, grandma, you got to sell me this boat.  Don’t sell this boat to anybody and she yeah – she worked with me to be able to buy the boat so I could fish it and keep it in the family.  And it was really awesome because he was the first one that gave me my first stern man job when I was 12 or 13 and it was on the same boat.  So it was just kind of bittersweet how everything happened.  And it was just  – yeah, it was a God thing.  It was just so so ironic.

 

Q:  [20:16] Yeah, wow.  Thank you for sharing that..

 

A:  [20:18] Yeah.  Yeah, you’re welcome.

 

Q:  [20:19] And you mentioned wanting to diversify.  Can you talk a little bit about that and your impulse to do that?

 

A:  [20:25] Yeah, well like I said before, the lobstering industry was under threats and there was new regulations being put in place and that made me really nervous about what the future is going to hold.  Not only just for me, but especially for my son.  And if he’s going to be able to make a living lobstering, I mean, you see the, the prices of things nowadays and inflation’s gone up so much.  And it’s not like it used to be.  It costs so much.  Just to do this, just to live like this, just to have this lifestyle.  It’s a lot.  I just don’t know if financially he would even be able to do it, so I went into oyster farming because that seemed promising. And I just kept thinking about my grandfather and he actually used to own a fish weir before he started lobstering.  And the fish started to decline.  And back then we had a lot of great white sharks and other sharks in the area.  They’re – that’s how the ocean is.  One species thrives and then the other one kind of falls off a little bit and then this species runs out of food because they’ve eaten it all up and so they start dying and then another population will start growing again.  That’s just kind of the cycle we’ve seen.  And so he just realized that the fish were kind of on the decline and a shark actually got into his fish weir and ate up all of his fish.  And after that he was, OK, I’m going into something else.  What else can I do to keep working on the water because he loved it.  And he went into lobstering and it’s – ironically my oyster farm is in the river that he first started fishing.  So this, yeah, it was really really cool.  But he started fishing out of the Weskeag River and then he moved on to South Thomaston and then he moved on to Criehaven, which is an island that’s farther away offshore next to Lake Matinicus.  And he, he fished out there for the remainder of his life.  So that’s why my boat actually – I kept the name Shearwater because he named his boat after his favorite ocean bird and it still says Criehaven as the port because I’m just not going to change it.  So I don’t know, maybe I’ll end up out there someday, probably not.  I have way too much going on in here between oystering and lobstering, so probably not, but I still to keep it the same.

 

Q:  [23:30] And do you have any experience in bookkeeping, bait or gear preparation?

 

A:  [23:35] Gear preparation, a lot.  Yeah, a lot.  Accounting was – I was very good at in school.  Math and science were definitely my best subjects in school.  I was terrible at English and history and still am.  But math came very easy to me.  So I had, I had no problem with that at all.

 

Q:  [24:06] What about processing and trade?  I’d love to talk a little bit about where we’re sitting right now.

 

A:  [24:11] Yeah, so processing, I basically just did my research, I just did my research and found out that this is what I needed in order to get my seafood dealers license.  And I called up a friend of mine who was a carpenter, a very good one, and he was, yeah.  I showed him my shop and I was can you turn this into what I need you to turn it into and told them what it needed.  And he’s, yeah, he’s, I can do it very easily.  So I did this and yeah, it works.  It’s working good for now.  I don’t know how much bigger I’m going to get.  I did put in an application to expand my farm.  It got denied because one of the landowners unfortunately didn’t want to see any oyster farm equipment from her home.  Yeah, she thought it was going to affect her being able to sell her house someday.  It would devalue her property and I – and she had some Airbnbs there.  And I was this is probably going to draw people to your property, not affect it negatively in any way.  But she still didn’t see it that way and as far as the laws go right now, they have a say.  They have a say if you’re close enough to their property line, then they have a say.  So that kind of backfired on me and I got a little bit discouraged.  So I thought, well, instead of expanding, why don’t I just try to maximize what I can. maximize at my lease site now and try to make it work the most efficiently and the best that it can.  And then we’ll go from there.  So if I do put in another expansion it will be close to home.  I don’t want to travel very far.  I can’t, it wouldn’t work for me.  So, but yeah, we’ll see.  We’ll see in the next year or two or three.  I don’t know.  I take it one day at a time.

 

Q:  [26:39] Sure.  And do you have any experience in activism or community-based organization related to fisheries?

 

A:  [26:44] I’ve worked a little bit with the MLA.  I’ve done some marketing with them,  collaborating with them a little bit.  I was happy to do it.  I was happy to learn.  I think everything that you do is a learning experience and the more that you put yourself out there, the more that you meet new people which is awesome because what else am I going to do? (laughter) I’ve always been one of those people that likes to just keep progressing, I guess.  I like to feel I’m progressive.  So that was a great learning experience for me and it has certainly helped me with marketing my own product as well.  For sure.

 

Q:  [27:35] Great.  And can you tell us what does an average day look like for you?  I know that’s hard, but however you feel – feels right to answer it.

 

A:  [27:43] Yeah.  Yeah.  So right now it’s a little bit different than in the beginning because I’ve been able to grow my farm a lot more than what it was in the beginning.  I was putting a lot of time myself into the farm beforehand so I was working extremely long days.  But now, especially that I have a son and my farm is grown and I have three full-time employees and then when we really get into full swing I might even hire two part-time employees to help out.  And that frees up my time so I can spend some time at home with my son at night.  So my days start at four in the morning. I get up, I’m on the boat at five.  I’m lobstering – I schedule the, I usually do the deliveries if possible because I have to stay connected to the people and the restaurants that I’m working with.  I think that having a good personal experience with them is good for business.  And then they get to stay connected to the actual farmer, which is really good.  So I try to take at least one of the delivery days to deliver to local areas and right now we have two delivery days. And I bring my son along with me too.  So that’s really cool.  So we’ll go out to lunch and we’ll have a day together.

 

Q:  [29:24] I love that.

 

A:  [29:25] Yeah.

 

Q:  [29:26] And do you feel like – or how do you feel like your background and/or identity sort of shapes your work in the sector?

 

A:  [29:32] Yeah, I think that my background is, has definitely it has shaped everything.  There was – a lot of other, I guess, girls that grew up around here that didn’t really necessarily get into fishing.  I mean, I remember when I was younger just feeling I didn’t really fit in because I was really good at being a girly girl, but I was also really good at being a tomboy and fitting it with the guys too.  So I never really had  one group of people that I hung out with.  And, so I think that that helped me do this work, but I always kind of felt in between both.   You know what I mean?  It was OK, now I got to act girly girl.  OK, now we’re going to be tough.  Now I’m going to be serious because if I’m not then people aren’t going to take me seriously. So I don’t mind throwing my hair up and just putting on mascara real quick and then I get a whole lot more work done when I’m not primping in the mirror.  But when I was in school, I was definitely doing my hair, doing my makeup, dressing very girly girl, so I think that just being able to kind of fit in with everybody kind of helped me be, I don’t want to say successful, but it just helped me, I think, along the way.  So some fishermen, I’m sure the old school ones look at me and they probably laugh because they’re, what’s this girl out here doing?  Why is she doing this?  Why isn’t she just staying home and being a mom?  Well, it’s because I like to work and I love my job and I love what I do.

 

Q:  [31:30] Yeah, great.  Thank you.  We’re going to sort of shift into environmental changes. Can you tell me about any changes you’ve noticed in your time working on the water?

 

A:  [31:52] Yes, back in the ‘90s and after that, there was a lot of lobsters that were very close to the shore.  I mean, you didn’t have to go way out and fish for lobsters.  You don’t have to go chase them that far.  You could have a smaller boat and just kind of putt around inside and the lobsters were coming up to the doors, the traps were full.  And I just remember being in such awe about that.  And there was definitely a lot of lobsters around.  There’s still a lot of lobsters around, but we’ve definitely got a lot more regulations put it in place for sustainability so they can continue to reproduce.  And that’s really good.  Traps are not as full.  But the lobsters, they’re just migrating in different locations, the water temperature’s different, the salinity’s different.  Everything is definitely changing.  You can see that.

 

Q:  [33:07] Yeah, and how is that sort of impacting what you do?

 

A:  [33:14] I’m an inshore fisherman, I don’t go fish offshore.  I have a 36-foot boat.  My boat is not a 48-foot boat.  And I’ve always been excited to be an offshore fisherman.  How cool would it be to be the first offshore woman fisherman around here?  It’d be awesome.  It’d be a dream come true.  I don’t know if I’m going to get there, I’d love to.  But we’ll see what happens in the fishery.  And it’s a lot of money to invest in a boat and in more gear and more rope.  And to go that far out, it’s a huge risk right now.  Because we have the six years and then we don’t know what’s going to happen with the lobstering industry.  So, yeah, we’ll see.

 

Q:  [34:22] Can you tell me a little bit more just about your thoughts on the future or what do you think is going to happen?

 

A:  [34:29] I think that lobstering is going to become more industrialized.  A lot of fisheries in Massachusetts and New Hampshire – there’s just only big boats, the big boats go out.  And there’s not going to be a lot of the small time fishermen.  A lot of people have gotten out in the last few years because they want to be able to sell their boat.  They want to be able to sell their traps.  They – if lobstering ends all of the sudden where’s people going to sell their boats?  No one’s going to want to boat.  No one’s going to need a boat, all of their hard earned money and investments just going to go down the drain.  So, I think that, yeah, it’ll be – it’s very regulated.  I think that regulation is good.  I think conservation is good.  I’m in an agreement to that.  I think the reporting is just so much.  Though, I think, it’s just a lot.  You have to track how many lobsters you catch, where you caught them.  I know they want to know where the lobsters are, but it becomes no secrecy.  There’s no secrecy.  There’s no – it’s not going to be anything it used to be I feel like.  So a lot of the offshore boats that are fishing federally have to report every single day so we’re probably going to have to do the same thing, which for me is a lot because I report oysters, I report elvers.  And now I’m reporting lobsters.  It takes a lot of time out of my day. Last year was the first year that we had to do the lobstering.  And they – you had to report every month.  And I’d go back through all my slips for the month and I’d be, OK, how many traps did I haul this day?  How many traps did I haul that day?  I don’t know, I can’t remember.  I have my poundage here.  Where did you fish?  I don’t know.  I can’t remember exactly that.  So I see why they’re making people report daily, but it’s just, it’s a lot.  I’m just going to have to make it a part of your daily routine.  So it’s – I accept it, but it’s a lot.  Yeah.

 

Q:  [37:19] And have you seen any environmental change on your oyster farm or when you’re fishing for elvers?

 

A:  [37:24] I haven’t seen too much of an impact on my oyster farm.  My oysters are doing great.  So there’s nothing that I see that’s going to affect them too much.  I do know we got a lot of rain this year so if that continues to happen, then that could be very bad because that’d be just closure after closure.  But I’m in a good area where it’s very close to the mouth of the river.  So I’m very lucky where my farm is located and where my perch site is located, because it’s literally pretty much in the ocean.  It’s not way up in the river like a lot of farms have it.  And for them, if global warming continues and oysters get too hot, then that that can be really bad because they grow too fast.  So I think I’m in a good spot for that.  So I’m pretty hopeful.

 

Q:  [38:32] Have you had any problems with green crabs?  We talked to a few other oyster farmers who have had some.

 

A:  [38:36] Yeah.  Yeah, I have noticed that there are a lot of green crabs in the river.  I did talk to someone about maybe throwing some green traps out there.  And there is someone that is actually doing that.  I’m not sure if that’s going to help.  He said that he never throws anything that he catches back into the river because I was really worried about them reproducting (sic) more and more and more, increasing the population.  But I think if we go about it the right way and do open up a fishery, then it could be helpful.  And then that would also be another product that people could sell on the market here in Maine for seafood, which would be good.  I just worry about, oh, if we’re feeding them, then they’re just going to keep growing and growing and growing. So I mean, it’s kind of a double-edged sword.  You don’t really know until you try, but if we don’t do something, they’re going to continue to reproducing.  So it’s – you kind of got to do something.  So I think that a green crab fishery here would be helpful to oyster farmers.  Yeah.

 

Q:  [40:02] Sure.  And I’m curious, to that point, when you look at the changes you’re seeing, what are other things you’re doing to try to adapt to those?  You mentioned diversification initially.  Are there other things that you’re really thinking about?

 

A:  [40:14] Yeah, well, I mean, I try to do my best here and fight global warming.  I think it’s important.  And I think that, yeah, there’s nothing we can really do about global warming.  But if we all work together and invest in clean energy sources like with  solar power I have on my roof to run my oyster shop and then that’s helping.  If I put solar panels out on my float to run my tumbler, then that’s helping.  Every little bit is helping.  So I think if people just focus on what they can do to work together, then there might be a chance that we’ll be able to not stop it entirely, but help it.  Help fight it as much as we possibly can.

 

Q:  [41:04] And do you feel with the diversification with the solar panels, do you feel you’re really equipped to move into the future?

 

A:  [41:10] Yeah.  Yeah, I do.  I think that we’re doing OK.  And I think we’ll continue doing OK.  I do think about electric motors and how that could also be helpful.  That’s something I’m working with, with the Island Institute.  Right now I have a tracker on my outboard and it’s tracking how many hours I use my outboard so that they can have that information to try to build an electric motor that is sufficient enough to carry that workload, and so the battery can last as long as I need it to while I’m out there working.  So that’s, that’s, that’s the next thing.

 

Q:  [42:03] Is there anything else that you really would like to try or have your hands in?

 

A:  [42:08] I think right now I’m pretty busy.  I originally wanted to go into mussel farming but it was too much of an investment for me in the beginning to do that.  And I realized that oyster farming was financially easier for me to get started into so that’s why I went into that.  Kelp farming is also another new thing.  There is a couple of people doing it in this area and they’re successful at it, but it’s where do you put the farm, all that kind of thing.  You don’t really want to cross their territory or (inaudible) them either.  So it’s working out in our area anyways that they’re doing kelp and I’m doing oystering.  But who knows if lobstering does go south, then, yeah, I’d probably, probably go into kelp farming as well.  I’d like to do it now, but it’s just not going to work for me at my lease site, because we’re kind of intertidal.  So, somewhat intertidal.  So you need a lot more water depth to grow kelp.  So, and the turbidity’ got to be just right.  And – so, yeah, there’s experimenting with that too.

 

Q:  [43:38] Sure.  And you mentioned the Island Institute.  I’m curious what other things you might have found useful and thinking about the future.  Some words I have that might help you think about that like resources, relationship, knowledge, trainings,  those sort of things.  What have you found that have really helped you as you do these things?

 

A:  [43:56] Yeah, the Island Institute has been wonderful.  I mean, they work with island communities and they kind of pull together the resources for you so that they can help you go into what you want to go into.  So they’re an absolutely wonderful resource and, they’re also helping – broadband was something that was really big for them.  They were helping island communities with that, people who didn’t have Internet service.  Let’s see what else have they been helping with – I’m not sure and I’m not even sure if I answered the question correctly.  But, yeah, the Island Institute has, has just been wonderful.  They’re good, good friends of mine, good people, good people that work there.  So – and great, great for this community as well.

 

Q:  [45:06] Great.

 

A:  [45:07] And what would we do without them?

 

Q:  [45:09] And sort of as you look towards the future, what is your biggest concern for Maine’s fisheries?

 

A:  [45:15] My biggest concern for Maine fisheries is – well climate change is definitely number one is at the top of the list.  That’s, that’s huge.  That will affect, that can  affect everything.  Very concerned about wind, wind turbines.  As much as it is a clean energy source, I don’t think it’s smart to put wind turbines in our oceans, because it will destroy our bottoms.  It will destroy a lot of species and  these species, we kind of rely on to make a living.  That’s something I really worry about, yeah.

Q:  [46:03] And if you could talk to policymakers what would you tell them to really prioritize as they look towards the future?

 

A:  [46:10] I would tell them to definitely prioritize going green, clean energy, but without destroying our oceans. That’s very important.  I think a big one really here in Maine is also – there’s a lot of older people here and there’s not a lot of young people that live around here to be able to work in especially this area.  I’ve had many people that have wanted to work on the farm and they’re I can’t find a place to rent because it’s all Airbnb.  And so living is – the cost of living is so high.  I really think that they should start taking a look at how they can help people afford to live around here and to find housing.  I think that’s, that’s really important.

 

Q:  [47:07] Great.  And I’m curious on the climate front.  Have you participated in any resilience trainings or  things  that, thinking about climate?

 

A:  [47:15] I haven’t.  I haven’t been in any trainings for that.  I’m just very aware of it.

 

Q:  [47:22] Sure, and on that front, what do you think would be useful for people, for other fishermen as you consider the future on a climate and resilience kind of front? What do you think would be helpful for that?

 

A:  [47:35] As far as other fishermen go, I think – well, I think everyone should put solar panels on their houses.  We need to go green, but we need to do it without wind.  So I think if everyone kind of steps up and does that, then it will help everyone substantially because the more we protect Mother Earth, the more we protect ourselves and our fisheries.

 

Q:  [48:04] Great.  And are there any other changes that are really impacting your work that you want to talk about?

 

A:  [48:08] No, no, not that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Q:  [48:17] And can you tell me about any opportunities or real positive changes that you’ve experienced since you’ve been around the water?

 

A:  [48:28] Positive changes on the water  –

 

Q:  [48:32] Or opportunities.

 

A:  [48:33] – or opportunities.  Well, I mean, aquaculture was a great opportunity for me.  Kelp is a great opportunity, like I mentioned, green crabbing would be a great opportunity, especially for this new generation coming up because I see that being a need.  I think that the more that the ocean changes then we need to keep an eye on species that start cropping up like black sea bass.  They’ve been definitely seen – more numbers of them around here.  Different opportunities to create different industries here, I think is a good thing to keep an eye on.

 

Q:  [49:21] And when you think about green crabs, what do you think that industry could look like?

 

A:  [29:25] I think it could be great.  There’s a lot of green crabs around here.   I think that everyone, I mean, there’s so many seafood markets and wharfs that could benefit from, something like that if, we all work together to do that.

 

Q:  [49:49] And sort of as you look towards the future, what is your hopeful vision for the future of Maine’s fisheries?

 

A:  [49:54] I hope that we can all still fish and make living on the water.  I think it’s really important for Maine’s small businesses and families to be able to continue this way of life, because, what are we – like the last ones on the planet that are  still doing this kind of thing.  We’re all small owned private business owners and you just don’t see that.  You don’t see that anywhere.  Everything is industrialized. There are just – it is just big business.  So I think it’s important that we keep Maine being the way life should be.

 

Q:  [50:39] Have you noticed any difference in women’s participation or status in the fisheries over time?

 

A:  [50:45] Yes, and it’s such a relief to see.  I have seen a lot more women getting – working on the water and getting into industries like these, which is great, because like I said, when I was younger, there was, there was no other women and I just felt like  I’m the only one.  So it’s really, really good to see that, but I think that equality is so important, and we’re still a big minority.  And if we all work together and support each other then we can kind of fight that.  And I mean, honestly, I’ve gotten the most help from women.  I go get a boat loan, it’s from a woman, my second boat loan was from a woman.  Women have just helped me so much and I definitely want to pay that forward. So it’s important we all kind of stay together because, I’m not saying all men are against us, or anything like that.  The world is changing and it’s wonderful, but there’s still some people out there that don’t like it.  I mean, someone said on, on Facebook the other day that it was abusive for a man to have – to be in a relationship where the woman makes more money than him.  And I commented on it and I was like, wait, how is that emotionally abusive if a woman is making more money than you?  It didn’t make any sense to me and I realized it’s just an ego thing, it’s just all ego and I think that equality is important.

 

Q:  [52:42] Yeah, and you mentioned that with elver, when you were elver fishing, you took a woman out with you.  I’m curious, do you find that there are a lot of women who really want to get into fishing?

 

A:  [52:50] Yes, there is.  And I think it is important that women are let into the industry. I think that, yes, definitely.  I’m just going to stop there.  I can’t express it enough.

 

Q:  [53:08] Yeah.  Great, and then I sort of moved through the, the guide pretty quickly so I’m curious if there’s anything you wanted to share with us.  I know you were sort of on a time crunch so I wanted to move fast.  But if there’s anything else you haven’t mentioned that you’d like to talk about, I’d love to hear it.

 

A:  [53:19] Yeah, yeah.  I think that it’s just important if you are a woman just to not let anyone try to bring you down or discourage you from doing what you want to do, because if I had listened to everyone in my life, tell me what not to do, then I would not be where I am today.  And I’m very happy where I am today.  So –

 

Q:  [53:44] Great.  Thank you.  Jess, do you have any questions before we –

 

Q:  [53:39] No, you guys got all.  Thank you.

 

A:  [53:51] Yeah.  Yeah.  You’re welcome.

 

Q:  [53:52] Great.  Thank you so much.  I will turn this off.

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