Commercial Fishing

• How to use my body effectively preforming physically challenging repetitive tasks.

• Fisherman's mentality of being really self sufficient and being able to fix everything

• The benefits and downsides of working on the water

I spent the summer of 2018 working on a commercial lobster fishing boat out of Provincetown harbor.  Commercial lobster fishing is a very fast paced job where while you are hauling traps its pretty much non-stop.  My responsibilities were baiting traps, picking lobsters and banding lobsters, and stacking the traps on the back deck.  We mostly fished ten pot trawls where there are two down-lines and then a ground line connecting ten traps together.  Lobster fishing was a good experience, but it was really hard on my body, especially my lower back.  Also, in general the lobster fishery in MA is declining as the lobsters are moving further north as the oceans warm.

The following summer, I worked on a 58ft limit seiner out of Sitka Alaska and it was amazing being in Alaska and seeing how people live and the environment there.  My role was to drive the skiff, and we also worked for about a month previous to the season, getting the boat ready as it hadn't fished in a number of years.  While our season was cut short due to injury, it was still an incredible experience being up in Alaska and I am looking forward to returning to visit even if not to fish.