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The lobsterman and the diver a hate-hate relationship?
Ebb & Flow
Peter K. Prybot
As air and water temperatures rise, lobstermen and scuba divers will compete again for Cape Ann's littoral waters, and longtime distrusts between them will surface.
Both groups often don't understand how each one works. Just how did these hard feelings originate? Local lobsterman Jim Waddell gives one clue: "It's the 2 percent factor in any group that always gives the rest of the group a bad name." These distrusts are not likely to disappear.
The diver picture here
Divers primarily work just off the bottom, and although they can clearly hear the noise of an approaching boat, they can only guess what is going on at the surface. All divers talked to feel they have a right to the ocean and its resources.
Cape Ann waters the last 25 years have been especially magnetic to out-of-town recreational divers with all levels of experience, who on summer weekends often far outnumber the area's more than 300 lobstermen. Part of that draw is ample access to the water either by foot from seaside parking areas or by boat from numerous public boat ramps. Dive boat charters also provide them access, while others boat in from out-of-town and even out-of-state.
Cape Ann's diverse ecotypes and rich marine life, including lobsters, are other attractions. Many recreational divers also pick up lobsters while exploring the bottom. But, gathering lobsters is the main purpose for others, whether licensed or not.
Cape Ann also has its share of local recreational and even commercial divers. The latter invade area waters to harvest sea urchins, check moorings, salvage lost equipment and clear fouled propellers. Cape Cod has the state's only five or so commercially licensed lobster divers.
The lobsterman picture here
Cape Ann lobstermen, like this author, primarily work the bottom from the surface, and they can only guess for the most part what is going on down there. They trap lobsters with fixed gear that requires continued hauling, re-baiting, emptying, setting back and moving throughout the year.
Time is money for them, and they want to get their day's work done quickly and smoothly. The lobstermen's daily routine at sea often brings them in contact with divers, especially during the warm-water months. Although a few lobstermen have used potentially dangerous means to express their displeasure to certain divers working amongst their lobster gear, no lobsterman wants to deliberately hurt a diver. Lobstermen have often gone out of their way to help divers, including those in need of a lift after venturing far off the coast.
Most lobstermen instinctively feel their commercial fishing should take precedence over recreational diving, and they know as a historical group, they have been trapping lobsters inshore long before both the Aqua-Lung was invented, and the move where everyone wants the ocean and its resources, came about.
Most also don't believe either the ocean or its lobsters belong to them. But local lobsterman Bob Morris Jr., explains, "The lobster is mine once it has gone into my trap."
Unfortunately, many divers have figured out pulling lobsters out of traps is much easier than yanking them out of rocky crevices.
The laws
Numerous laws, enforced at times by local police and harbormasters, Massachusetts Environmental Police and the U.S. Coast Guard protect the lobster and lobstermen and divers, especially from each other.
But just how many of the divers and lobstermen are familiar with these laws? How many divers still dive unmarked and cause lobstermen's hearts to rise up into their throats after suddenly seeing the divers' bubbles rise in their boats' pathways?
Furthermore, how many divers stay at least 25 feet away from lobster buoys and stay clear of boats working their traps, and how many lobstermen come to within 50 feet of either a marked diver or his marked craft, or operate their boats at speeds greater than 3 miles per hour within 100 feet of a diver?
Most important, how many divers rob lobsters out of traps? These laws get broken hundreds of times during busy summer weekends.
Law enforcement often acts on tips, and they will move quickly on any incident they deem serious. A local lobsterman was convicted of an unsafe boat operation and a dive flag violation this spring, and the diver, even though that person was diving within 25 feet of one of the lobsterman's buoys as well as under his working boat, was not cited at all.
"We don't consider anything a hoax until we can prove it that way; we have 62 miles of shoreline in Gloucester alone to cover," explained Jim Caulkett, Gloucester's harbormaster.
Lt. John Tulik of the Massachusetts Environmental Police further warned, "If anyone is caught raiding a trap, they will be arrested, and they will lose all their gear, including their boat. We are looking into new technology that can prove a trap has been tampered with and can pinpoint who did it."
Divers' perspective
Divers have their reasons why they might harbor hard feelings toward lobstermen.
"Inasmuch as many divers feel persecuted by the lobstermen, I have heard of many levels of stories from other divers of actual physical attacks ranging from dropping of objects, including concrete blocks in the bubble stream, to having their dive flags grabbed and then pulled by a boat at high speeds," explained Steve Brouillette, owner of Atlantic Divers in Danvers, who frequently dives off Cape Ann.
He added, "A rapid descent in and of itself is dangerous."
"In reality, I'm an instructor; I teach for fun; and I probably don't take more than six lobsters a year," he said.
Brouillette was also hired by an out-of-town lobsterman after the October 1991 "no-name" storm to retrieve lost traps. That lobsterman later told Brouillette, "It burns my *** to be paying you because I know you have been taking lobsters out of my traps."
Bill Sage from Framingham loves to dive off Cape Ann year-round with his friend Bud McGovern from Natick. Both have had bad encounters with lobstermen in the past, including having lobster boats pass right over their bubbles and having an irate lobsterman come to within a few feet of the dive boat they were on.
"He was bent out of shape that we were diving near traps," McGovern said.
"We just dive to see what's there," Sage said. "I might take one or two lobsters a year. I mainly get a license to support the fishery."
"I haven't taken a lobster for five years," McGovern added.
Both men feel that there are fewer divers diving for lobsters today than there were 10 years ago. Like many divers, McGovern and Sage have also helped out lobstermen by retrieving their lost and hung-down gear and clearing their fouled propellers.
"You are definitely aware of the lobstermen's presence; some won't give you the right of way," McGovern said.
Sources of lobstermen's distrust
In a nutshell, there are few local lobstermen, if any, who haven't had their traps robbed of lobsters by divers over the years. This pilfering can amount to hundreds of pounds of lobsters.
"My first thought is when I see a diver's flag amongst my gear is, is there going to be anything in my traps, and are my trap doors going to be open?" said lobsterman John "Hucka" Knowlton. But, he quickly adds, "I've also seen a lot of divers swimming right around the pots, and the pots have come up fine."
Knowlton has had divers even cut the nettings of his trap to get at the lobsters inside. He still vividly remembers a Rhode Island dive club that launched its boat one late summer day several years ago at the Granite Pier public ramp and boated out to the Sandy Bay Breakwater.
"They got me trap for trap along the edge there," said Knowlton, who saw them later come up with several bags full of lobsters.
The group, also rumored to have possessed illegal egg-bearing and V-notched female lobsters, was later questioned by local authorities at Granite Pier and let go. Knowlton remembers what one member yelled out during the questioning: "You don't know who I am. I'm a state cop from Rhode Island."
Albert Olson, another local lobsterman, distrusts divers for an additional reason: "Four years ago, divers near Granite Pier cut three traps out of an eight-pot trawl along with its end buoy line," he said. The divers did so to catch lobsters by checking and re-baiting the traps on weekends. Olson later snagged a section of the stolen traps' floating ground line and got his gear back. "The divers had put in extra bait bags," Olson said.
He and other lobstermen feel the percentage of bad apples has grown, and they have also found: "The (divers working off) boats are the worst, and the diver thievery is worst on weekends and holidays."
Added Bob Morris Jr.: "The divers' access is greater today, and you get hit in places you never got hit before."
The lobsterman and the diver a hate-hate relationship?
Ebb & Flow
Peter K. Prybot
As air and water temperatures rise, lobstermen and scuba divers will compete again for Cape Ann's littoral waters, and longtime distrusts between them will surface.
Both groups often don't understand how each one works. Just how did these hard feelings originate? Local lobsterman Jim Waddell gives one clue: "It's the 2 percent factor in any group that always gives the rest of the group a bad name." These distrusts are not likely to disappear.
The diver picture here
Divers primarily work just off the bottom, and although they can clearly hear the noise of an approaching boat, they can only guess what is going on at the surface. All divers talked to feel they have a right to the ocean and its resources.
Cape Ann waters the last 25 years have been especially magnetic to out-of-town recreational divers with all levels of experience, who on summer weekends often far outnumber the area's more than 300 lobstermen. Part of that draw is ample access to the water either by foot from seaside parking areas or by boat from numerous public boat ramps. Dive boat charters also provide them access, while others boat in from out-of-town and even out-of-state.
Cape Ann's diverse ecotypes and rich marine life, including lobsters, are other attractions. Many recreational divers also pick up lobsters while exploring the bottom. But, gathering lobsters is the main purpose for others, whether licensed or not.
Cape Ann also has its share of local recreational and even commercial divers. The latter invade area waters to harvest sea urchins, check moorings, salvage lost equipment and clear fouled propellers. Cape Cod has the state's only five or so commercially licensed lobster divers.
The lobsterman picture here
Cape Ann lobstermen, like this author, primarily work the bottom from the surface, and they can only guess for the most part what is going on down there. They trap lobsters with fixed gear that requires continued hauling, re-baiting, emptying, setting back and moving throughout the year.
Time is money for them, and they want to get their day's work done quickly and smoothly. The lobstermen's daily routine at sea often brings them in contact with divers, especially during the warm-water months. Although a few lobstermen have used potentially dangerous means to express their displeasure to certain divers working amongst their lobster gear, no lobsterman wants to deliberately hurt a diver. Lobstermen have often gone out of their way to help divers, including those in need of a lift after venturing far off the coast.
Most lobstermen instinctively feel their commercial fishing should take precedence over recreational diving, and they know as a historical group, they have been trapping lobsters inshore long before both the Aqua-Lung was invented, and the move where everyone wants the ocean and its resources, came about.
Most also don't believe either the ocean or its lobsters belong to them. But local lobsterman Bob Morris Jr., explains, "The lobster is mine once it has gone into my trap."
Unfortunately, many divers have figured out pulling lobsters out of traps is much easier than yanking them out of rocky crevices.
The laws
Numerous laws, enforced at times by local police and harbormasters, Massachusetts Environmental Police and the U.S. Coast Guard protect the lobster and lobstermen and divers, especially from each other.
But just how many of the divers and lobstermen are familiar with these laws? How many divers still dive unmarked and cause lobstermen's hearts to rise up into their throats after suddenly seeing the divers' bubbles rise in their boats' pathways?
Furthermore, how many divers stay at least 25 feet away from lobster buoys and stay clear of boats working their traps, and how many lobstermen come to within 50 feet of either a marked diver or his marked craft, or operate their boats at speeds greater than 3 miles per hour within 100 feet of a diver?
Most important, how many divers rob lobsters out of traps? These laws get broken hundreds of times during busy summer weekends.
Law enforcement often acts on tips, and they will move quickly on any incident they deem serious. A local lobsterman was convicted of an unsafe boat operation and a dive flag violation this spring, and the diver, even though that person was diving within 25 feet of one of the lobsterman's buoys as well as under his working boat, was not cited at all.
"We don't consider anything a hoax until we can prove it that way; we have 62 miles of shoreline in Gloucester alone to cover," explained Jim Caulkett, Gloucester's harbormaster.
Lt. John Tulik of the Massachusetts Environmental Police further warned, "If anyone is caught raiding a trap, they will be arrested, and they will lose all their gear, including their boat. We are looking into new technology that can prove a trap has been tampered with and can pinpoint who did it."
Divers' perspective
Divers have their reasons why they might harbor hard feelings toward lobstermen.
"Inasmuch as many divers feel persecuted by the lobstermen, I have heard of many levels of stories from other divers of actual physical attacks ranging from dropping of objects, including concrete blocks in the bubble stream, to having their dive flags grabbed and then pulled by a boat at high speeds," explained Steve Brouillette, owner of Atlantic Divers in Danvers, who frequently dives off Cape Ann.
He added, "A rapid descent in and of itself is dangerous."
"In reality, I'm an instructor; I teach for fun; and I probably don't take more than six lobsters a year," he said.
Brouillette was also hired by an out-of-town lobsterman after the October 1991 "no-name" storm to retrieve lost traps. That lobsterman later told Brouillette, "It burns my *** to be paying you because I know you have been taking lobsters out of my traps."
Bill Sage from Framingham loves to dive off Cape Ann year-round with his friend Bud McGovern from Natick. Both have had bad encounters with lobstermen in the past, including having lobster boats pass right over their bubbles and having an irate lobsterman come to within a few feet of the dive boat they were on.
"He was bent out of shape that we were diving near traps," McGovern said.
"We just dive to see what's there," Sage said. "I might take one or two lobsters a year. I mainly get a license to support the fishery."
"I haven't taken a lobster for five years," McGovern added.
Both men feel that there are fewer divers diving for lobsters today than there were 10 years ago. Like many divers, McGovern and Sage have also helped out lobstermen by retrieving their lost and hung-down gear and clearing their fouled propellers.
"You are definitely aware of the lobstermen's presence; some won't give you the right of way," McGovern said.
Sources of lobstermen's distrust
In a nutshell, there are few local lobstermen, if any, who haven't had their traps robbed of lobsters by divers over the years. This pilfering can amount to hundreds of pounds of lobsters.
"My first thought is when I see a diver's flag amongst my gear is, is there going to be anything in my traps, and are my trap doors going to be open?" said lobsterman John "Hucka" Knowlton. But, he quickly adds, "I've also seen a lot of divers swimming right around the pots, and the pots have come up fine."
Knowlton has had divers even cut the nettings of his trap to get at the lobsters inside. He still vividly remembers a Rhode Island dive club that launched its boat one late summer day several years ago at the Granite Pier public ramp and boated out to the Sandy Bay Breakwater.
"They got me trap for trap along the edge there," said Knowlton, who saw them later come up with several bags full of lobsters.
The group, also rumored to have possessed illegal egg-bearing and V-notched female lobsters, was later questioned by local authorities at Granite Pier and let go. Knowlton remembers what one member yelled out during the questioning: "You don't know who I am. I'm a state cop from Rhode Island."
Albert Olson, another local lobsterman, distrusts divers for an additional reason: "Four years ago, divers near Granite Pier cut three traps out of an eight-pot trawl along with its end buoy line," he said. The divers did so to catch lobsters by checking and re-baiting the traps on weekends. Olson later snagged a section of the stolen traps' floating ground line and got his gear back. "The divers had put in extra bait bags," Olson said.
He and other lobstermen feel the percentage of bad apples has grown, and they have also found: "The (divers working off) boats are the worst, and the diver thievery is worst on weekends and holidays."
Added Bob Morris Jr.: "The divers' access is greater today, and you get hit in places you never got hit before."
