About a Boy, His Dad and Lobstering

By Guest

The Canton Citizen, a sponsor of the annual Canton Writes contest, will once again publish the winning entries as space permits. This week’s entry by Adam Naddaff-Slocum was selected as the winner in the Middle School Nonfiction category.

Since summer is approaching, I want to share something with you that I look forward to every summer — that something is lobstering. Ever since I can remember, I have gone on my dad’s boat and pulled our lobster traps. In fact, my dad has been lobstering his whole life in the same place that I lobster today, off of Peggity Beach in Scituate, Mass. We have a beach house there that my grandfather built a long time ago.

Catching a lobster is certainly not as easy as eating one, but it can be as enjoyable. It actually takes a lot of preparation and equipment, some of which I have here to share with you today. First, you need a lobstering license. When you are 14, like I am now, you are eligible to have a 25-trap student license. However, you can also get commercial license, which allows you to have as many traps as you want. When my dad was 14 years old until he was 20 years old, he was a commercial lobsterman and he had 250 traps. This is how he paid for his college. Currently we only have a ten trap license, which means that we cannot have more than ten traps with our buoys on it.

If you have been on a boat, you have probably seen different colored buoys dotting the ocean. Most of these buoys are marking lobster traps. Since there are many lobsterman, how do they know which traps are theirs? It’s simple, each lobsterman has to create his/her own buoy with a pattern or just paint on it. When my dad was my age, his buoy was his school colors, but he gave that pattern to my uncle, and started using his grandfather’s old pattern, green diamonds, which we still use today. However, back in my grandfather’s day the buoys used to be made of wood.

There are a few more things you need in order to lobster. One essential part of lobstering, is a boat. You need a boat in order to retrieve your traps. It does not have to be a lobstering boat. It can be any kind like a dory. When you catch a lobster, that is, IF you do, you measure the lobster with a gauge to see if it is big enough to keep. If the lobster’s shell is 3 ¼ inches, then it is what we call a keeper or big enough to keep. However, if the shell is over 5 inches long, you have to throw the lobster back. If a lobster has eggs, you cannot keep it, but if a female lobster does not have eggs, you can keep it. If you find a lobster with no eggs, but it has a notch in the shape of a v on the tail, you must throw it back. This means that another lobsterman has claimed that lobster using what is called a “V Notch.” If you decide to keep a lobster, you have to put bands on both its cruncher and scissor claws so it doesn’t pinch you or harm other lobster in the live well. After all the hard work is done, the reward is worth it.

Let me explain the lobster trap. The lobsters crawl through two spaces in the trap, and fortunately, are not smart enough to crawl back out. What lures them here is the bait. You put the bait, which is usually dead fish such as herring or mackerel, in a bag in the trap and the lobsters see it and crawl in. Unfortunately, tiny fish and crabs often come in the trap and steal the bait. More than once, I have pulled up a trap with absolutely nothing in it. The little black flap on the side of the trap is what’s called an escape latch. The escape latch is for tiny lobsters, fish, or crabs to escape from the trap.

Once you pulled up the lobster trap, you may put it back in the Ocean where ever you like. I recommend you put them near a rocky area because that is where lobsters like to hang out. A fish finder will help you do this. We do not use a fish finder, because my dad has lobstered in this area for so long that, he knows the best spots. We put our traps near two rocks called Martha and Arthur.

My family has always loved the ocean. My dad’s family has been summering in Scituate for four generations. My love of lobstering, fishing, snorkeling, diving, swimming, boating, and kayaking have all been passed down to me from my dad and his parents. I hope to continue the tradition because it means a lot to my family, and I would love to share it.

The ocean has taught me two very important life lessons. The first is determination. If I do not catch many lobsters one day, I don’t give up. Instead, I try extra hard to catch a lot the next day. This has transferred into my life at school as well. For example, if I do not do well on a math test, I try extra hard on the next one to get a better grade. This applies to any other setbacks that I have in life. The second is patience. I do not always catch a lobster when I put the trap in the water, but when I wait and not get frustrated, I have time to stop and admire the things around me like the shining sun, paper flat water, and the birds chirping. As Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

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