Twenty-two third graders from Maine Coast Waldorf School in Freeport donned life jackets and, in two groups of 11, boarded Dave Moody’s lobster boat Britanica on Oct. 9. They were there to help Moody and first mate Angela Coron haul two six-trap trawls and to learn about the lobster industry from people who make their living on Harpswell’s working waterfront.
It was an experience they won’t soon forget.
Isaac will remember the anticipation as lobster-laden traps were hauled onto the deck, while for Nelson, it was seeing them pushed off the stern back into the blue water.
“I liked holding the lobster and how many eggs there are,” said Sunny.
Molly had fun at the touch tank at Henry Allen’s Seafood, where the kids ended their experience. She suggested that one leg-waving lobster be named Disco.
Charlotte said, “I liked seeing everyone throwing the lobsters (back into the water) because I was scared of them.” She preferred the hermit crabs, especially the shy one that only showed its face to her.
Margaret enjoyed the time spent exploring the nearby cove with its variety of creatures and treasures.
“I found a lot of sea glass,” she said.
Henry liked banding the lobsters best, and Selwyn declared he now wants to be a lobsterman.
Their day began on the dock, as Moody explained the different parts of a trap. The bait goes in the “kitchen,” while lobsters pass through the “parlor” on their way to the back section or “bedroom.”
“That’s where you hope that they’ll stay,” Moody said.
He showed students a pair of orange vents that allow small lobsters and other marine life to escape, a legal requirement in Maine.
“How do the big lobsters get out?” one student asked.
“They don’t,” Moody responded with a wry chuckle, adding, “You want the big ones to stay in — that’s the whole idea.”
Moody, who grew up in Harpswell and has been catching lobsters since he was younger than the curious students gathered around him, said he always enjoys having kids on board, although this was his first trip with so many.
Coron, who has been Moody’s sternman for the last four years and whose kids attend Maine Coast Waldorf, worked with teacher Jennifer Given to organize the outing.
Given had contacted Coron to set up the field trip in keeping with the school’s focus on place-based learning.
“Our year revolves around living on the Earth, from how we shelter ourselves to how we grow and gather food,” Given said. “Allowing the children to experience lobstering firsthand enables them to fully dive into the practical work of living on the bay and all that that entails. It helps them further garner respect for the ocean and the creatures of the water as they learn about the ecosystem of the bay.”
Once on board, the hauling process began. Coron hooked each trap as it came over the gunwale and guided it to the stern, warning everyone to keep clear of the fast-moving rope slithering across the deck.
She used a regulation gauge to measure each lobster from eye socket to carapace to ensure it was of legal size. Students threw back any that measured less than 3.25 inches and helped band the “keepers.”
Coron held up a pair of large lobsters to illustrate the differences between male and female. She rotated a female to show off its belly, heavily laden with small black eggs, before handing it to Moody, who demonstrated how to cut a small notch in the lobster’s tail before tossing it overboard.
That notch is a critical to the industry’s continuing viability, Moody said. By marking breeding females and returning them to the water, the lobstermen preserve their own livelihood and legacy.
Moody plucked another female lobster from the trap, made another quick notch. He handed that lobster to the nearest student, who took it into his cupped hands as if receiving a gift, then gently returned it to the sparkling waters of Middle Bay.
Editor’s note: The Maine Coast Waldorf School requested that students be identified only by first names in this story, and not identified in photographs.
