On Portland's Widgery Wharf, another lobster season gets underway
David MacVane is the last of the original nine owners who purchased Widgery Wharf in Portland in the early 1960s. MacVane started lobstering on Cliff Island when he was 10 years old. Now 80, he still works and lobsters in Casco Bay. He says the business is getting tougher on his body and he now shares the wharf with younger lobstermen.
Many of the lobstermen on Widgery Wharf still fish with wooden traps, even though they require more maintenance. As the weather warms, these lobstermen work on repairs in anticipation of what they hope will be a plentiful and profitable year.
Photos by John Patriquin/Staff Photographer
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Jack Bradbury carries one of the traps he will set out as he and other lobstermen on Widgery Wharf in Portland begin to organize and repair their gear on April 3, 2014. Bradbury builds half of his 500 traps from wood.
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Eighty-year-old David MacVane repairs a wooden trap as he and other lobstermen on Widgery Wharf in Portland begin to organize and repair their gear for what they hope will be a profitable season, on April 3, 2014.
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Jack Bradbury works in his Widgery Wharf shanty on one of the 500 lobster traps he will set this year.
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Sixty-five-year-old Jim Holden untangles lines on April 3, 2014, as he begins his 57th year lobstering. He has worked from Widgery Wharf in Portland for the last 20 years.
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Boats are ready to go on Widgery Wharf in Portland.
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Buoys and line are stacked on Widgery Wharf in Portland.
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Leland Merrill, 90, who has been retired from lobstering for the last five years, visits his buddies on Widgery Wharf in Portland and feeds gulls almost every day.
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Buoys and traps are ready on Widgery Wharf in Portland as lobstermen begin to organize and repair their gear for what they hope will be a profitable season.