Here’s something worth looking at – and thinking about: A new exhibit of portraits of women who run Maine lobster boats. It’s called “Lobstering Women of Maine,” and it’s at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport. As described in MaineBoats.com, the exhibit features paintings by Tobey White of Belfast, whose husband is a part-time lobsterman.
It’s not a surprise that women make up a very small percentage of the Maine lobster fishing fleet. Indeed, only 215 of the 4,500 licenses for lobster fishing in the state are held by women. But another 305 women are students or apprentices in the lobster fishery there.
The women lobster boat captains are definitely not small in courage, skill and accomplishment. Consider Yvonne Rosen, pictured above, who runs her 30-foot H&H boat, Gimmie A Hulla, out of Vinalhaven. She fishes 760 traps and has been captain of her own boat for the past 11 years. Until recently she was the only woman captain in Carvers Harbor. And she’s very proud of her tattoos, a lobster on one arm and a fish on the other.
Or Genevieve McDonald, of Stonington, who runs Hello Darlings 11, the mother of 14-month-old twins and a state representative. She was the first woman appointed to the Maine Lobster Advisory Council and the first woman commercial fisherman elected to the Maine House of Representatives. She also has worked to make fishing gear designed for women. “When women have a seat at the table, things get done,” she says.
The exhibit runs until Oct. 20. Read more:
