Rockland

Interviewee Collection Sort descending Description Interviewer Date of Interview Location of Interview Affiliation
Roger Freeman Assessing Vulnerability and Resilience in Maine Fishing Communities

Interview with Rockland lobsterman Roger Freeman, born April 22,1949 in Rockland, ME. At the time of the interview, Mr. Freeman was still living in Rockland. The interview contains information about Mr. Freeman's career fishing for lobsters. He describes his entry into the lobster industry in 1973 and the changes that he witnessed in gear, species fluctuations, prices and regulations.

Cameron Thompson Rockland, ME University of Maine
William Kirk Assessing Vulnerability and Resilience in Maine Fishing Communities

William Kirk, born in 1947, is a lifelong resident of Rockland, Maine. He is the first member of his family to work in the fishing industry, having entered the lobstering fishery independently in 1967 to supplement his income from working at a clothing factory in town. Despite the significant increase in the cost of bait and other operating costs over the years, Kirk continues to actively lobster, selling his lobsters locally throughout his career. He has two sons, one of whom works with him in the lobstering business while the other works for a fishing company.

Cameron Thompson Rockland, ME University of Maine
Allison Wilson Assessing Vulnerability and Resilience in Maine Fishing Communities

Allison Wilson Jr. was born in 1931, in Rockland. He has lived in Port Clyde, Maine, for almost eighty-one years, with twenty-four of those years spent in his current residence at 98 Horse Point Road. Wilson comes from a family with roots in Nova Scotia, with his ancestors having migrated to Port Clyde, where they built a log cabin before returning to Nova Scotia, and then coming back the following year. He estimates that he is the sixth or seventh generation of his family in the area.

Cameron Thompson Rockland, ME University of Maine
Howie Edwards Assessing Vulnerability and Resilience in Maine Fishing Communities

Interview with Howie Edwards, who was born in Rockland, Maine. In this oral history interview, he describes changes in the community of Rockland as well as the canning industry.

Cameron Thompson Rockland, ME University of Maine
Alex DeKoning Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2019

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.

Matt Frassica Rockland, ME Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, The Island Institute, Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Dana Morse Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2019

Dana Morse, from Walpole, ME, is a seasoned professional in the field of aquaculture and marine resource management. With over two decades of experience as a member of the Maine Sea Grant Program, he has dedicated his career to education, research, and technology transfer in the industry. As a co-founder of the Nice Oyster Company, Morse is also an oyster farmer, bringing practical hands-on knowledge to his work and bridging the gap between academia and industry.

Scope and Content Note

Eliza Oldach , Natalie Springuel Rockland, ME University of California, Davis, Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, The Island Institute, Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Daniel Devereaux Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2019

Daniel Devereaux, from Brunswick, ME, is harbor master, clam warden, and cofounder of Mere Point Oyster Company in Maquoit Bay.

Scope and Content Note

Galen Koch, Griffin Pollock Rockland, ME Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, The Island Institute, Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Cormac Hondros-McCarthy Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2019

Cormac Hondros-McCarthy, from Lowell, MA, is part of a team of engineers at LobsterLift LLC developing ropeless lobster traps to reduce the risk of whale entanglement.

Scope and Content Note

Natalie Springuel, Giulia Cardoso Rockland, ME Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, The Island Institute, Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Jessica Echard and Rebecca Weil Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2019

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.

Matt Frassica Rockland, ME Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, The Island Institute, Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Chris Petersen Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2019

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.

Matt Frassica, Griffin Pollock Rockland, ME Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, The Island Institute, Maine Fishermen’s Forum