The evolution of lobstering is a testament to the familial culture it creates in mid coast Maine. The family ties make community so important, while the micro-industry is slow to change because of deep tradition. New mapping and hauling technology is absent on the skiffs of young soon to be captains; parents and grandparents want their children lobster fishing the same way they did 20 or 50 years ago. The cyclical nature of lobstering families mirror the cycles of seasons; with the summer comes new fishing weather, just as it does new lineages in a lobstering family. In the same sense, older generations move on while passing their skills to younger ones, and the cycle begins again.<\/p>\n
The harsh Maine fishing weather wears off on lobstering communities that face serious challenges with drug and alcohol abuse. On the contrary, there is a prestige and admiration held in lobstering that creates a culture and environment–a place–that is very unique and separated from outsiders. This is likely because of their own identity or understanding of place, that they embody working class \u201cskill, courage, and tenacity\u201d that Acheson observed. This is arguably the largest challenge that tourists face; people who come from cities with 21st century identities and cultures enter a place where ruggedness and sacrifice embody the lobsterman\u2019s community and upbringing.<\/p>\n
As a local who doesn’t come from a fishing family, I’ve felt removed from that timeless world on the islands and on the peninsula. Acheson describes the sea as \u201calien\u201d, and I think the foreignness of the sea promulgates this separation between lobsterman and the outsider; the placelessness of the islands pushes them further from the outside. From lingo to traps to clothing to boats, the culture remains uniform over generations, while Rockland and other places undergo a search for a new identity of place. The concept that lobstering is almost paused in time, while the rest of the world evolves, is a really incredible representation of the midcoast and the identity crisis that culture creates when defining place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The evolution of lobstering is a testament to the familial culture it creates in mid coast Maine. The family ties make community so important, while the micro-industry is slow to change because of deep tradition. New mapping and hauling technology is absent on the skiffs of young soon to be captains; parents and grandparents want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5796,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329829,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/allen-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}