Table of Contents
Get our free local reporting delivered straight to your inbox. No noise, no spam — just clear, independent coverage of Marblehead. Sign up for our once-a-week newsletter.
Homarus americanus, the American red lobster, is one of the many great bounties of the sea, but few people know the labor that goes into harvesting them. Lobstering is incredibly hard work in a fragile fishing industry that requires heavy manual labor and going out to sea in the early morning hours while many of us are still in our slumber.
I myself had the privilege of getting to know the local lobstermen of Marblehead. This past summer has been memorable, as I had the opportunity to help the lobstermen of our town retrieve their lost traps in our waters. Typically, I would board their vessels and they would take me to their lost traps.
I would ready myself to dive down and take in my last breath. As the world above falls away and I glide into the depths, I would locate the trap and hook it to the line I was provided with. Then, with a flick of my wrist, I would cut the old line tangled around a mooring or rock using a sharp knife. The lobsterman would then haul up the lost trap, reset the bait and drop it back into the water.
Ryan Park’s “Beneath the Blue” captures a Marblehead most people never see: divers helping lobstermen, friendships born on the water, and the work behind a fragile coastal economy. If this kind of local storytelling matters to you, please join us as a member. Our newsroom runs on $80,000 a year, and 95% of every contribution funds reporting. We have 54 members today and are aiming for 100 by year’s end.
The cool thing is I get to spend a day in the life of what it takes to be a lobsterman and have gained far greater respect for the industry. For community service, it feels good knowing that I can use my free-diving skills to help benefit the lobstermen of our town one breath at a time.
I happily offer my diving services to the local lobstermen of Marblehead and encourage them to approach me should they need help retrieving any lost traps. The only compensation I graciously accept is long-lasting friendships.
Ryan Park, a Marblehead resident and practicing dentist, writes “Beneath the Blue,” an occasional column in which he shares the experiences, challenges and discoveries of freediving in photos and words.
