Maine Lobsters

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Heller McAlpin, Deer Isle in Twilight; A $1.7 billion industry, and an age-old way of American life, is threatened by overfishing, warming waters and international trade wars. Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... twilight-1532039280
(book review on Christopher White, The Last Lobster; Boom or bust for Maine's greatest fishery?  St Martin's, 2018)

Quote:

"A journalistic Ahab, Mr White tenaciously chases his whale of a story over the course of four years. He sets up base camp in Stonington, Maine's not-yet-gentrified Mid-Coast lobster village on Deer Isle, which sits in the Gulf of Maine between Penobscot and Jericho Bays. Stonington's year-round population of 1,200 includes 350 lobster captains, 450 sternmen, and dozens of dealers, dockworkers and seafood restaurant workers. 'In other words, Mr White writes, "nearly three-quarters of the residents actively work in the industry. The remainder are relatives." * * * Stonington's population doubles in summer with vacationers

"In pursuit of his story, Mr White rises before dawn and heads out to Jericho Bay with Capt Frank Gotwals and his sternman Alyssa La Pointe, on the Seasong, a 39-foot wooden boat that Capt Gotwals built with his own hands. Despite working without a chart, the captain easily locates his 750 traps scattered around the islands, which he checks for sweet summertime shedders -- newly molted adult lobsters. * * * Mr White describes the many steps involved in their harvest, including spotting and hooking the captain's distinctively colored buoys, hauling up traps from the ocean floor, measuring the catch and throwing back teh undersized and female lobsters. Claws are banded before placing the keepers in saltwater tanks, and traps baited with fresh herring before they're reset.

"The author also gets to know Julie Eaton, Captain of Cat Sass, and Sid Eaton, Captain of the Kimberley Belle, a couple whose marriage runs on laughter and competition. Together, in a boom year, they make $250,000 during their 16-233k season which runs from July through October. Julie, whose preferred title is lobsterman * * * though women still account for only 4% of Maine's commercial lobster licenses.

"Mr White is lucky enough to witness a 'wicked awesome' boom, when Maine's annual lobster harvest tops 130 million pounds -- six times the average haul during the 1980s. With lobstermen making as much as $200,000, they're riding high

"Chinese demand accounts for about 10% of all Maine lobster exports. In addition, 60% of Maine lobsters are trucked to Canada for processing.

Note:
(a) The review is locked behind paywall. There is no need to read the rest of this review.
(b) quotation 1.
(i)
(A) Captain Ahab
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Ahab
(B) Ahab
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Ahab
(pronunciation)

was an evil king in Book "1 Kings" ("Elijah Confronts Ahab") of Old Testament.
(ii)
(A) Deer Isle (island)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_Isle_(island)
ous Mount Desert Island) to its east.
(B) Jericho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho
(is a city in the Palestinian Territories)
(iii) remainder (n): "(usually the remainder) * * * When the remainder refers to a plural noun, the verb is plural ['the rest' is the same]"
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictio ... english/remainder_1
(iv) Job Descriptions. Lobster Institute, University of Maine, undated
https://umaine.edu/lobsterinstit ... s/job-descriptions/
(Lobsterman "Sternman: Also known as an aftsman or deck-hand, a sternman does not actually hold a lobster license, but assists a lobsterman in the harvesting of lobster. He or she will bait, empty, stack, and drop traps. They do not haul traps or pilot the boat")