Social Work Commons^™

Film: Oral Histories Of Women In The Maine Lobster Industry, Isabelle I. Vachon

Honors College

In the state of Maine, an average of 120 million pounds of lobsters are caught and
sold each year. The lobster fishing industry in Maine is a large economic system that
supports thousands of fishermen and helps attract over 32 million tourists to Maine every year. According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, women hold only 4% of the approximate 4,200 commercial lobster fishing licenses in Maine. In the past, The University of Maine’s Lobster Institute has conducted interviews with Maine lobster fishermen and this project augments that work by collecting oral histories of women in Maine’s lobster industry. …