Alex DeKoning, a mussel farmer based out of Bar Harbor, ME, is the son of seventh generation mussel farmers from Holland. His family has been farming mussels in the Netherlands since the 1750s. However, due to limited expansion opportunities there, they decided to explore other regions and eventually settled in Maine. DeKoning and his family run the only mussel farms in North America that farm mussels on the bottom instead of on ropes.

Bruce Bourque lives in Freeport, ME, where he has taught archaeology and conducted research at Bates College since 1972. Now retired from teaching, he is working on a documentary film on the history of Maine's fisheries. Bourque came to the state originally to study Maine's prehistory, the period before 1600, and the people that lived on this coast. He was able to collaborate with others to combine this archaeological record with more recent accounts of fisheries history to build a longer timescale of context for how the Gulf of Maine has been changing.

Butch Harris is a seasoned fisherman and summertime charter captain from Eastport, Maine. He has spent the majority of his life engaging in lobstering, scalloping, and urchin diving. 

Scope and Content Note

Chad Libby is in the 11th grade at Jonesport Beals High School. He has been a lobster fisherman for as long as he can remember. His goals for the future include to lobster fish, worm, and clam, and attend college for auto mechanics. 

Scope and Content Note

Chris Bartlett, a marine extension associate with the University of Maine Sea Grant from Eastport, ME, whose work has focused on commercial fishing and aquaculture, speaks about the economic and social changes in Eastport during his time there.

Chris Petersen, a professor of biology and ecology at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME.  He has worked with undergraduates on Mount Desert Island, at multiple locations in the Caribbean, and the Pacific Northwest, and is currently collaborating with researchers with several groups in Maine including the Penobscot East, the University of Maine, and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.

Dan Harriman is a fisherman who operates the state’s last mackerel weir in Cape Elizabeth, ME. His family came to the US from Denmark in the 1980s. He speaks about his experience fishing and discusses the issues he sees in the fishing industry such as unsustainability and lack of access. He believes these challenges stem from knowledge not being passed between generations and suggests that change needs to come from the bottom up.

David, Cynthia, and Emily Thomas are from Islesford, Cranberry Islands, ME. David is a retired school teacher and lobsterman, Cynthia works at the island library, and their daughter Emily attended college and now works in Nova Scotia, CA, though she grew up on the Cranberry Islands. They speak about the diversification of Islesford, temperature impacting the location of lobsters, and changes in island life, such as setting up reliable internet service but losing the island store.

John McMillan, the owner of McMillan Offshore Survival Training and resident of Belfast, ME, and Don Wagner, one of his employees, offer the Drill Conductor Course to lobstermen. Both focus on the importance of safety training in the lobster industry and include stories of the gratitude people have expressed at knowing what to do in emergency situations, particularly when their training was able to save multiple lives.

Jessica Echard and Rebecca Weil, from Cooperstown, NY, both work for the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety as a research assistant and research coordinator, respectively. Their main project has been working with fishermen to increase their use of lifejackets while fishing. They have focused on talking with fishermen about why they choose not to use lifejackets, what their concerns are, and how they can help improve lifejacket design to make them more appropriate for the job.