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Pat Ryan has been fishing the F/V Sea Hag II for 10 years. Pat was a boat builder by trade and built out the original F/V Sea Hag, a Flye Point 26 in ’86. Then, after Bob Williams, the Godfather of the West Bay, told him he needed a bigger boat, Pat built the F/V Sea Hag II, an H&H 36.

Pat worked for 20 years with his brother running Pen Bay Boat. After a full career boatbuilding, Pat built one for himself and slowly began fishing full-time. He’d had a lobster license 38 years, and fished commercially while keeping his day job building boats. Once he built the original F/V Sea Hag he decided to take advantage of the fact that he had his license and slowly built up to fishing full-time. He has now been at it 20 years.

 

Pat has 800 traps, the limit allowed with a license, and pulls 200 or so per day, 5 days a week. The days are long, but efficient, with 5 buoy, 10 trap strings of doubles per location. Pat is meticulous about keeping records of the ‘strings’ and pays close attention to which locations are yielding more lobsters and moves the strings accordingly. Pat is confident in his knowledge of where the lobsters are and where they are going and puts them down in his favorite spots, the ones that have treated him well over the years. Our day involved hauling and baiting traps, assessing the output of the strings, and switching locations when the Captain deemed necessary. It’s like placing bets on a gambling table; some pay off big, and some come up empty. But the guys that have been doing it for years and pay attention to the detail, and take the information and data to ensure they come up winners more often than not. That’s the name of the game; hunting without seeing the prey. Tracking where they are and predicting where they are going. Using information from the current season for immediate trap placement decisions, and prior seasons to predict how things might unfold for the remainder of the season. No year is the same trying to find these migratory crustaceans. There are so many factors driving their behaviors.

 

Pat fishes out of Buck’s Harbor and is one of the 8 full-timers out of Brooksville. There are 5-6 part-timers making almost 14 fishing vessels ‘fishing the islands’ of the West Bay between Brooksville and North Haven along the shores of Islesboro all the way to Rockland. Buck’s Harbor has a rich fishing history, but has seen challenges in the past few years with lack of a consistent lobster buyer, no deep-water public landing, and a changing landscape of marine resources. The town of Brooksville is looking into a new dock and potentially dredging Betsy’s Cove, but the place is no Deer Isle in terms of resources for fishermen. Pat comes down to Stonington every day for bait and fuel from Greenhead and to sell his catch. He’s been doing it for years, and continues to do it because of the consistency of the service, the quality of the bait, and the long-established relationship he has with Hugh. He knows Hugh values loyalty and consistency, and that he has been and will be there in the good years and the bad, like he always has.

 

Pat’s sternman is named Kody, and he has a rich family history in fishing. Kody is from Penobscot, went to Bucksport High School and has been on boats since 2008. His grandfather was a lobsterman, and was killed along with his sternman back in 1971. Reggie Bunker fished out of Sorrento and had a two-year-old son, Kody’s father, when he drowned offshore. Kody’s father never fished, understandably so, but Kody felt the call after trying his hand at other jobs and told me he hasn’t found anything he likes more. His other grandfather worked at H&H and built the F/V Sea Hag II’s hull, so he has a rich tradition in fishing and with Pat’s boat.

This has not a good year for the lobster industry, not only because of a lower yield but also based on the lower boat price. It has not been a banner year for the catch, despite hopes for a rebound, but the bigger problem has been the price and the premium lost with closings of high-end restaurants, cancellations of cruise ships and retaliatory tariffs from China and Europe. Pat is optimistic about the potential for the late season as the lobsters are starting to come in, but that likely won’t do much to help the price. We need more demand not more supply.

Pat Ryan is a Brooksville guy through and through, and despite it being a more challenging environment to provision and sell, he was born and raised there and plans to stay. He did spend some time away while his dad was stationed with the Coast Guard outside of Maine, but they came back as soon as his dad got a job stationed in Southwest Harbor, and they came back to Brooksville despite the commute. Pat raised his sons here, including Casey who is also a Brooksville resident and fishes out of Buck’s.

Steaming home to Buck’s Harbor, we stood at the bulkhead looking north through the windshield of the F/V Sea Hag towards Brooksville and enjoyed a few cold beverages we’d picked up at Hugh’s pier. We ate some popcorn fresh from the microwave down below, and talked Brooksville history. It made me realize part of the reason Pat loves selling down in Stonington is the trip back at the end of the day standing at the best bar in Penobscot Bay!

As we came in to the harbor, Casey texted his dad saying he hadn’t found much that Monday morning. Pat had a pretty good day all things considered and I’m sure he’ll share that highly classified information with his son, keeping it ‘in the family’ over in Buck’s Harbor. Pat made clear the lobsters haven’t been great this year, but after the day he was encouraged things could pick up, and where he set his traps would be critical to finding the late-season lobsters.

Francis Hardy is a lifelong lobsterman. As he says, he was ‘born into it’. He has been fishing Deer Isle waters for 38 years and got his start as a kid on Eggemoggin Reach under the Deer Isle bridge in a small skiff with an outboard. From there he moved up to a 32’ Jonesporter which he describes as ‘old, but got you where you needed to go’. His first new boat was a 32’ Osborn called the F/V Downeast Pride and now captains a 36’ Northern Bay F/V Miss Brieanna named after his first granddaughter. Francis has had his license since he was 12 years old, and now has 800 traps. He remembers the old equipment and gear, and although he’s upgraded, he still works hard for every lobster he catches. He is ‘old school’ and lobsters that way, the right way, the ‘Stonington way.’

Francis has been in this business a long time, and understands the complex nature of the profession and industry. Through the ups and downs he has learned the necessity of hard work and ‘earning your lobsters’. He likes the work, and the challenge, even when times aren’t great, and the lobsters are harder to find. Francis explained the importance of the early season, ‘spring training’ as he called it, to success during the height of the summer lobster season when every minute counts as the team does their best to haul all traps every day but Sunday to maximize the haul from the season. The early season is about establishing trap locations, identifying early season lobster movements, and getting the hauling process down with his sternman to define roles and responsibilities on the boat that will allow them to catch the most lobsters and ensure their safety in doing so.

Francis says he was ‘born’ into lobster, but the reality is he made it in the industry all on his own. His father didn’t fish, but Francis always knew that’s what he wanted to do. He started in his skiff, put his time in ‘sterning’ in high school and saved until he could buy his own new boat. Because of this, he has been open to giving newcomers a chance to apprentice, and although he has had several apprentices over the years, his cousin Matt Eaton was his biggest success. Francis saw a lot of himself in Matt since they both didn’t have a family history in the business, and both knew from an early age that’s what they wanted to do. Francis taught him well, told him to ‘put his head down, work hard, and you’ll get there.’ And Matt did. He started as a kid going with Francis, got a small boat and worked his way up to fishing his own gear with 800 traps. The most important thing Francis taught Matt was the importance of reputation. He told him ‘it can take a whole lifetime to get the respect of the older fisherman, and it can take one little thing to screw it up.’ Francis is proud of how respected Matt is by the older fishermen, and must’ve learned from his mentors the value of that lesson he passed on to Matt.

F/V Miss Brieanna is 8 years old, and her namesake is 9. Brieanna is Francis’ firstborn grandchild. Brieanna has earned the right of the boat being named in her honor, showing interest in pursuing a career in the industry, pestering her grandfather all spring to get her traps out he gives her as part of her apprenticeship. She is allowed 10 traps this year, but that moves up to 50 next year when she turns 10 years old, and goes up from there. The traps are counted under Francis’ license but he’s happy to help his granddaughter his boats’ namesake to get a valuable lobster license.

Francis has a new sternman Slade who has been on boats a few years, but is new to F/V Miss Brieanna. Slade has a great sense of humor, and seems to know his way around the stern. He is constantly moving, even when in conversation; filling bait bags, readying new traps to be set, pulling traps on to rail to be emptied and rebaited once hauled up the winch, preparing to send out the second and third trap on a double and triple once Captain Hardy has found the perfect spot for the string and confidently sent it over the side. Slade’s actions are determined by the Captain’s actions, and he is ready without being asked, which is impressive since they just started to fish together. That is probably partially due to good direction from Francis and partly due to the competence of Slade. They are already working well together, maybe due to ‘spring training’. One of the first things Slade said to me when I got on the boat was ‘best job in the world’, and I could tell he meant it. After spending the day out on the F/V Miss Brieanna, I understand why.

Francis Hardy is ‘old school’. He takes great pride in his profession, and treats his boat, employees and the lobsters with the respect they deserve and that will make the industry last a long time. Francis takes no short-cuts (except for those over shoals he knows like the back of his hand). He is careful with the lobsters, and not just to avoid the fines that come when cheating, but because he cares about the fishery for the sake of Brieanna and her Maine license to lobster. He cares about his boat and keeps it in top condition, cleaning it as soon as he’s done fishing and before he heads in for the day. He cares about his employees and understands the importance of getting out even when he has to ‘earn’ his lobsters and likely won’t make much on the day after paying for bait, fuel and his sternman. “Anyone can catch lobsters in summer”, he said. Lastly, he cares about his fellow fisherman, apprenticing younger guys, teaching them the trade, sharing his knowledge and secrets, even though they may take the lobsters he gives them the knowledge to catch. He understands generations prior did it for him, and generations that follow will continue to do it, for family and for the community.

We ended the day heading into the harbor threading the needle over the shoals between George’s Head and Steve’s Island, talking about Hugh’s operation in Bucksport and its proximity to Crosby’s, the traditional Maine summer take-out. Francis told me Crosby’s is ‘old school’, which it is. But it made me realize that based on my day out on the F/V Miss Brieanna, Francis Hardy is ‘old school’, and a big reason why Stonington is the best lobster port on the Maine coast.

Meet Leroy Weed, Sr. our newest Greenhead Employee. Leroy is the head of our new retail operation on the pier of Greenhead Lobster here in Stonington.

Leroy was born and raised in Stonington, started fishing when he was 8, and has been fishing for 68 years, 23 of those as a loyal Greenhead supplier. We are happy Leroy is re-joining the Greenhead family after retiring as a commercial fisherman, and couldn’t ask for a better guy for the job. You can read more about Leroy’s history in our last Fisherman Friday blog post.

Leroy now has five jobs, and at 78 might be the hardest working man in Stonington. He manages properties, lobsters part-time, makes movies for Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries (MCCF), and is a devoted family man; father, husband, grampy. He’s a self-described ‘jack of all trades’. Leroy’s full-time summer gig is normally with MCCF manning the Discovery Wharf ‘touch tank’ where visitors can handle local sealife. There he educates the public on native species; lobsters, scallops, clams, starfish, periwinkles and more. After MCCF decided to close for the year, Leroy decided to join Greenhead to use his knowledge to sell what he has harvested all his life. We are excited to have him.

He is a celebrity here in Deer Isle, and has the YouTube following to prove it. He has been making educational videos for Maine Fisheries to replace his in-person teachings. He had 1.7K views on his first Maine Fisheries film in the Ask Leroy! series.

He is looking forward to continuing to share that knowledge and advice, about lobsters or life, with our customers. Leroy says “you should come down and do some chin waggin’!”

Please come down and ASK LEROY!

Greenhead Lobster has announced the opening of its new retail lobster shop on the wharf at their 38 Ocean Street headquarters in Stonington. The shop will hold its official grand opening Monday, June 29th, welcoming customers to stop by and hand select sustainably wild-caught live lobster from the shop’s tanks. Orders will also be taken online for pick-up. Regular shop hours will be weekdays, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Owner Hugh Reynolds explains the move by his company “supports our local independent fishermen and makes our premium wild-caught lobsters more conveniently available to residents and visitors – right here at our Stonington dockside shop.” He added “a portion of proceeds from the shop’s live lobster sales will benefit a local island charity.” Reynolds assured all the proper CDC precautions around COVID19 are being implemented to ensure customer safety and convenience. For more information or to order ahead for pick-up, visit www.greenheadlobster.com.

Meet the Team — Sarah Fader, Quality Assurance and Food Safety Manager

Sarah Fader is our resident food-safety expert. She’s the one who keeps everyone safe on the processing floor in the new Bucksport plant and is making sure we keep our promise to produce the highest quality products for our customers.

Daily Tasks:

Sarah starts her day by checking all quality control points, including regular checks of product, equipment, and processes to ensure safety and quality. She manages all lobster supplied to the processing plant from the moment it arrives, until the moment it leaves on our trucks. This includes:

• Safety checks of the live lobsters,
• Verification of cooler/freezer temperatures,
• Monitoring of cooking temperatures/target internal temperatures
• Ensuring quick cooling of the product

Additionally, all product is inspected multiple times a day for quality, including taste, texture and visual appeal.

She also manages the packaging and labeling process that ensures our customers have all the information they need to safely handle our products, including cooking and handling instructions, ‘use-by’ date, and potential allergens.

Pandemic Impact:

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, none of her responsibilities are more important than the standard sanitation procedures that are normally ‘business as usual’. Greenhead employees already were going above and beyond food safety requirements, but Sarah developed an even more robust “Pandemic Plan” that would allow us to continue to operate under the current Maine State mandate on a limited basis as an essential business.

In addition to the already strict regulations, she added new requirements including: social distancing on the processing line, dividers between workstations in the ready-to-eat room, and mandatory facemasks for all employees in the facility.

While she can’t control what people do outside the facility, she has asked each employee to sign a pledge confirming they have not travelled via public transport. She also asks that anyone showing any COVID symptoms do not report to work and immediately contact management.

Lastly, as an extra precaution, we added more employees to our night sanitation crew, and increased training for the full-time employee to consistently clean and disinfect all common surfaces throughout the day, rather than at regular intervals.

Food Safety Background:

Sarah reminds us that because of the nature of our products, we already had a very complex program both because we are processing seafood and shellfish, and because we are processing both ready-to-eat and raw lobster products. She says we would be surprised to learn we were already required employees to:

• Wear boots that never leave the facility
• Work in separate areas for ‘ready-to-eat’ products vs. the processing floor
• Use dedicated entrances for each space with separate breakrooms
• Follow strict protocols on interaction between employees in the different functional areas

She manages a robust employee training program to ensure adherence to the strict measures. In January, Sarah passed the top level of the SQF Food Safety Certification program, scoring 99 out of 100 for the evaluation.

Food Safety Tips:

With all her in-depth knowledge of the dangers of germs and pathogens, we couldn’t be luckier to have her in this challenging time. I asked for her advice on rules she follows for food safety in general, and she had a surprisingly simple answer. Stay away from these 3 things:

1. Don’t eat raw oysters unless they are HPP (our lobster process)
2. Don’t eat uncooked cake batter (not just because of the raw eggs, but the flour too)
3. Don’t eat communal bar nuts

Sarah’s Background

Sarah has the perfect background for this job. She got a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, and a Master’s in Food Science from the University of Maine at Orono where she completed a thesis in product development and shelf life evaluation for a seaweed product, seaweed sauerkraut. After school, she entered the lobster industry, and worked on several lobster value-added products, such as, lobster mac and cheese and lobster grilled cheese at Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company in Topsham.

Sarah is originally from Vermont, and her first job was serving ‘creemees’ (what local Vermonters call ice cream cones) in the summer. She has been in food from the beginning, and is truly passionate about what she does and how she does it.

She moved to Maine for school and she hasn’t left. She came to Greenhead from Hancock because she loves the Bucksport area, and was drawn to the family-run atmosphere from the small town of Stonington.

Many thanks to Sarah for all her hard work, particularly during the COVID-19 challenges. We are lucky to have you.

***Please take a moment to consider signing our petition to take the ‘achoo’ out of Massachusetts. It might help us make ‘summah’ happen with our annual tourists from Massetts.