Cover story shelter deck across her rails. sets along the contour lines, between 70 “When it blows, you know it,” says Da- and 200 fathoms. When he sets his gear vid Dellinger, the 23-year-old mate from he keeps an eye on the fish finder and on Kingstown, R.I., who’s been with Ducha- the loran, trying to keep his mile-long rme for three years. “She’s a wet boat, but trawl within the narrow plateau of ter- a good sea boat.” raced bottom. Dellinger’s father runs an offshore He turns the Freedom hard to port, Grand lobster boat, also out of Newport. Ever hard to starboard, setting with precision. since he was 14, Dellinger’s been lobster- Ducharme fishes 44 pots to a trawl. At one ing, most of it offshore. He bypassed high end is a buoy and at the other end is a school to begin the trade, and one day buoy and a high flyer. The high flyer has a would like to own his own boat. radar reflector so it can be found at night. canyons Ducharme sets his trawls (also called The basic idea aboard the Freedom is strings or sets) of pots near the southwest to haul and bait all the trawls in three days The Freedom pursues lobsters in the deep water below Georges Bank part of Georges Bank in a small area of the and then head home. Dock-to-dock trip outer continental shelf, specifically Lydo- length is about five days. The visibility stretches to the curves of nia, Gilbert and Oceanographer canyons. By John Lee the earth. In the wheelhouse, Marc Duc- He has been fishing these three canyons n Lydonia Canyon on the first day, de- harme, fast nearing 50, plays his electric for 20 years. He doesn’t leave them and Ispite perfect weather, the crew running n the way out to the fishing guitar. He plays it from Newport, R.I., all go somewhere else. Instead, he holds his through gear in t-shirts, Ducharme isn’t grounds in early November, the way to Nantucket Lightship. ground and waits for the run. As with the thrilled about what he is seeing — empty the Freedom rolls. The day “I should’ve been in a band,” says Duc- inshore lobster fishery, territory lines are pots where they should be loaded. Last before we leave, Hurricane harme as he rips a blues chord. unspoken but understood. year at this time they were landing nearly ONoel has torn across Georges Bank, mov- Ducharme, of Portsmouth, R.I., has “These sets are too valuable to leave,” 20,000 pounds of bugs a trip. Ducharme ing quickly — it blows out fast, consumed been the Freedom’s only captain. The he says. and the crew rely on the fall and early by cold water. Behind Noel a swell moves boat was built in the 1980s. She’s a steel The canyons are shaped like hooked winter run of lobsters. like mirrored hills, up and down, in an off- 72-footer with a deep draft and a low pro- fingers, and the canyon walls slope down “The lobsters should be here by now,” shore hypnosis. file. She has no outriggers or stabilizers, no like the side of a mountain. Ducharme Ducharme says. “They should’ve dropped The Freedom fishes the offshore lobster fishery on Georges Bank in the fall and early winter with 1,700 traps. down from Georges and be here. But gives Ducharme an idea of how the trawl they’re not.” is doing against last trip. He wants to see Every time an empty pot lands on the an increase in numbers, which indicates rail, Ducharme has a comment. His com- the run has begun. ments aren’t directed at anyone in par- Costa also makes sure the bait (skate) ticular: “Look boys another empty!” “Hey is ready to go, always. A mistake here will we caught a rock! Better band it!” After surely draw a tough-love comment from awhile, Dellinger rolls his eyes and says, Ducharme. But Costa keeps the bait — “He gets better as the trip goes on. The and its strong ammonia stink — in order. first day is always tough to get through. PHOTOS Not just for him, for all of us.” The Freedom’s captain, Marc Ducharme, EE The second day, we move down to Gil- 49, plays his Fender Stratocaster on the L OHN bert — a steam of roughly 20 miles — and way to and from the lobster grounds. J haul, stack, and set. The lobstering is still slow. Lots of lobsters with eggs keep get- ting thrown overboard, and Ducharme has comments about the percentages of eggers to keepers. But the lobsters we are keeping are large, no gauge required. Even when lobstering is slow the mo- tions are fixed: You haul and set. Haul and set. All day and into the night. Nineteen hours on your feet with nothing but the whine of rope going through the pot hauler — or the sound of pots being slid GONE FISHING across the deck, the sound of voices, the sound of the engine. Be Back at Sunrise “No matter what, you still have to go through all the motions,” says Warren Peckham, at 34 the second oldest man on board. He’s tall and lean and lives in War- wick, R.I. All of the Freedom crew members live in Rhode Island. Peckham and Dellinger have worked many boats together and have years of experience. On the Freedom, Peckham and Dellinger alternate running Turn Night Into Day the hauler, which is normally the captain’s No longer will you be job. Ducharme likes to lift and stack the 75-pound pots. governed by the light of day “Marc stacks pots because Marc’s or the darkness of night. in love,” Dellinger says. “It keeps him FLIR’s powerful, rugged, in shape. Found himself an artist — he all-weather thermal imagers may be in over his head on this one. She allow you to navigate safely went to RISD,” the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, pronounced and confi dently – seeing rizdee. obstructions, buoys, and Ducharme would disagree. “I can talk other vessels through total with anyone: art, business, the world. We darkness. Whether you’re should all be learning Chinese right now.” Justin Costa, also of Portsmouth, is the heading out early, returning youngest on board at 19. Costa’s father late or fi shing around is an expert rod-and-reel fisherman, and the clock there is a FLIR is good friends with Ducharme — who thermal imager designed to also is crazy about recreational fishing, and builds and sells his own wooden striped meet your needs. bass lures, called scuds. Costa spends his free time spear fishing. On one bicep he has a squid tattoo, on the other the No. 2 hooter buoy, marking not only Costa’s arm but the seaward en- See video of these products trance of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. at www.fl ir.com He is also the newest to lobstering. “I’ve lost 20 pounds since I started here five months ago,” he says. “I eat more and lose weight.” without FLIR with FLIR Costa bands lobsters and puts them in The World Leader in Thermal Imaging the tank. As he puts them in the tank, he 877.773.3547 counts them. This gives Ducharme an idea of how much they have on board. It also For updated news, visit www.nationalfisherman.com JULY 2008 • NATIONAL FISHERMAN 25 GoneFishing_JrPg_123107.indd 1 12/31/07 10:14:37 AM Cover story n the morning of the second day finishes each row, he ties them down with The 72-foot Freedom steams out of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay the day after Othe clouds come thick and the wind a line. They get the entire trawl on deck Hurricane Noel tore across Georges Bank. picks up. The gale is out of the south, and tied down. Now Ducharme has to coming in off the Gulf Stream. At least turn the boat around and set back in. it is warm. We make it through the eight Ducharme goes into the wheelhouse trawls at Gilbert and then steam toward and on the radar within two miles is a Oceanographer. The weather makes us very large target, a steamer inbound for creep along with green water coming over Boston. Being in a gale with no visibility the bow. with a target nearby the size of an island “Weather is everything,” says Ducha- doesn’t comfort Ducharme any. He swears rme. “This kind of weather will slow the at the wind and the waves. He swears at operation to a crawl.” the steamer. Then he picks what he thinks By the time we reach Oceanographer, is a lull in the waves and begins to turn it’s late in the day, the visibility poor, the the boat around. wind 40 knots — borderline for hauling. “Hang on boys, we’re going to be in Ducharme has some difficulty locating the trough here!” Ducharme shouts. the high flyer on the radar. “They don’t The Freedom takes a nasty roll and show up well when a sea is running.” Af- something slams against the galley floor. ter awhile, the crew at the rail searching, “The stress of this job will kill you,” He also learns fast the lobsterman’s knots: year round — fair weather or foul. they see it. “Off to starboard,” calls out Ducharme says. splicing, tying gangions and tying bridles.