What's in a Name?

Family Tradition is more than a reference to a couple of Hanks

What's in a name? The American Dream, hope for the future, respect for the past, someone who knows their place in time, space, community and family. I love the name Family Tradition for all it evokes about getting a living on the water. Boats with names like Steppin' Up, Provider, and Old Horse show a respect for what hard work life on the water can bring. Most names have more to offer than denotative meaning. Many prudent fishermen name their boats after their wives and children. Others come up with names that tell a story or reflect their thoughts about life on the water. Either way, names are worthy of a close look and reflection.

Many lobster catchers start out with a few traps and a small skiff and outboard. When other kids are playing video games or watching the latest DVD they're on the water or as close to it as they can get. They are drawn to it. The motion of the boat, thrill of finding lobsters in a trap, and entrance into an adult work world cast a mighty spell. Pretty soon they're looking out past the harbor entrance and imagine all the lobsters crawling around on the bottom waiting to be hauled aboard. If only the boat were a little bigger. That's how the yearning for the next boat begins. Something to carry a few more traps, a better hauler, more electronics and able to fish outside the harbor.

They move up from sixteen to nineteen feet and 15HP to 70HP outboards to 6 cylinder diesel between junior high and adulthood. The boat brings a job, sense of place, a degree of pride and maybe a hefty debt. As soon as I saw Steppin' Up at the dock, I knew where the owner got the name and what it represented. Step up to a bigger boat, more gear, and potentially more income. It's a sign of the hope and optimism both of which are necessary for lobster catchers. Still other boat names exhibit a sense of irony or at least understatement or great exuberance. Consider for example Hot Damn! or Lazy Days, or the above mentioned Family Tradition and those Williams boys.

Red Tide Alert!

I wish I knew what the marine equivalent of bucolic might be. It would make a great title for this photo. The serene scene above harbors trouble below.

NOAA radio began broadcasting warnings about Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) or red tide contamination in Hancock County this week. The algae blooms that cause PSP have reached the mud flats in some Downeast areas that are home to clams and mussels. Right now, the warning is up roughly from Isle Au Haute to Millbridge for mussels and snails. Other warnings over a broader area are likely to follow. The local TV news is reporting the dangers of digging your own clams and mussels and dutifully explaining the safety of the same products provided by commercial harvesters and sold in stores and restaurants. This is made possible by an extensive testing program run out of labs in Boothbay Harbor and Lamoine. I have been present in the lab when PSP testing was going on and have a lot of confidence in the program.

Red Tide blooms occur in warm weather, which is about the most inconvenient time for diggers, restaurants and votaries of the mussel and clam. Too bad to have the flow of bivalves interrupted just when the diggin's good and the market's strong. In the wake of what might be a disaster for all kinds of seafood news outlets are constantly reminding me that fin fish, crabs and lobsters are not part of the shellfish biotoxin problem.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources estimated that last year red tide closures cost the state $10 million. Let's hope we get off a little easier this season. I'll be interested to see what forces of supply and demand win out over the next few weeks and what happens to clam prices this summer. I'll be sure to pay attention when I cruise by the seafood counter at the grocery store.