On August 5, 2024, Hillary Smith and Hana Harvey interviewed Erin Adams in Portland, Maine. Adams, born in 1983 in Worcester, Massachusetts, is the co-founder and CEO of Ocean Farm Supply, a Maine-based company developing plastic-free, compostable mesh bags for shellfish and produce harvest. She holds a background in marine science and extensive field experience, including work as a fisheries observer in Alaska, video survey technician with SMAST, assistant scientist with the Sea Education Association, and part-time captain with a Portland-based lobster tour operation.

Eugene Greenlaw, born in 1949, is a lifelong resident of Lubec, Maine, with a brief period of service in the Navy. His first involvement in commercial fishing began with a job at a sardine factory in Lubec, where he worked for 31 years and eventually became the plant manager in 1998. Greenlaw has been commercially fishing for lobster since 1972 and has also fished for scallops, sea urchins, and herring at different times throughout his career.

Eva Cushman, born in 1924 in Camden, Maine, was a long-time resident of Port Clyde, Maine. She moved to Thomaston with her parents shortly after her birth and attended Thomaston schools where she met her future husband. Her husband worked on the mailboat Nereid, which traveled from Thomaston to Monhegan to Boothbay Harbor and back. They married in 1941 and had seven children together. In 1946, they moved to Port Clyde where her husband worked as a lobsterman, fisherman, and clam digger.

This is an interview with fisherman Frank Bichrest of Cundy's Harbor, ME. Interview contains descriptions of the groundfish fishery, shrimping, lobstering and the community of Harpswell. 

This interview was produced with funding from the Maine Humanities Council.

Frank Heller and Jack Collins, two friends and prospective aquaculturists from Brunswick, ME, share anecdotes from their life including how Heller broke his leg while walking on Popham Beach, was treated by the same doctor as Stephen King, and few years later, broke his wrist in the same location as the leg. Both men are interested in organic ocean farming and discuss the information they learned at the Forum about oyster aquaculture and seasteads.

Fred Hersom is a lobster fisherman who first went out fishing with his father when he was six years old. He discusses the weather, bait, number of traps, sale of lobsters, rules, and regulations, and a typical day in the life of a fisherman. He fishes out of Stonington, Maine, and usually sets out four to five hundred traps.

On September 9, 2013, Joshua Wrigley interviewed Fred Viola in South Portland, Maine, for the Maine Coast Oral History Initiative. Viola, a lifelong resident of Portland, grew up in a fishing family but preferred shore-based work. He worked in construction for most of his career while intermittently engaging in fish unloading, or "lumping," at the Portland Fish Exchange. Viola describes his early work in the fishing industry, starting as a teenager in a whiting factory before transitioning to lumping, which provided higher earnings.

Edwin and Freda McKie are experienced lobster fishermen based in Prince Edward Island (PEI). Edwin began his fishing career in 1971 and purchased his own boat and license in 1973, while Freda joined him in lobster fishing in 1982.

Scope and Content Note

Gary Hatch, a lifelong resident of Owls Head, Maine, comes from a lineage of fishermen. His formative years were spent learning the intricacies of lobster and flounder fishing, a tradition within his family. Hatch's career in fishing expanded when he was introduced to seining by an older fisherman, a method that deepened his connection to the sea. His affinity for the coastal environment was not only a source of livelihood but also a passion that led him to explore the shorelines and waters of Maine.

Interview with Gary Libby of Port Clyde, ME. Libby was born in Thomaston on April 26, 1958. born in Camden. Lives in Port Clyde, ME. Gary has served on shrimp and groundfish Advisory Panels and on a forage fish group as well. He grew up in Thomaston and started digging clams at 12 years of age. His father purchased a groundfish boat and Gary began to work aboard ship. He has also worked in scallops and aboard trip vessels, dragging for groundfish. He worked on deck for a number of years while fishing with his brother.