[ti:At 101, Maine’s Oldest Lobster Trapper Has No Plans to Stop]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Virginia Oliver has been trapping lobster
[00:04.52]in the northeastern American state of Maine
[00:08.08]for more than 90 years.
[00:10.88]And even at 101 years old,
[00:15.00]she says she has no plans to stop.
[00:20.00]Oliver recently told The Associated Press
[00:23.64]she started catching lobsters at age eight.
[00:29.00]At that time, the electronic traffic signal was a recent invention
[00:35.00]and few women were harvesting lobsters.
[00:40.12]Oliver still goes out to set traps off Rockland, Maine,
[00:45.48]with her 78-year-old son Max.
[00:49.44]She uses a boat that once belonged to her late husband.
[00:54.92]The boat, called “Virginia,” was named after her.
[01:00.72]Oliver is now the oldest lobster fisher in the state
[01:06.56]and possibly in the world.
[01:09.32]“I've done it all my life,
[01:12.08]so I might as well keep doing it," she told the AP.
[01:18.40]Oliver said she worries about the health
[01:22.24]of Maine's lobster population.
[01:26.48]She said the lobsters have been facing
[01:29.88]heavy fishing pressure in recent years.
[01:34.88]The lobster industry has changed
[01:38.08]over Oliver's many years on the water.
[01:42.84]For example, the sea creatures have grown
[01:46.72]from a working class food to a tasty delicacy.
[01:52.28]When she first started trapping,
[01:54.84]lobsters sold for 28 cents a pound.
[01:59.16]Now, they bring in 15 times that.
[02:02.84]Wire traps have replaced her beloved wooden ones,
[02:07.84]which these days are mainly used
[02:10.88]as decorations in seafood restaurants.
[02:15.20]Other parts of the business have remained
[02:18.32]much the same over the years.
[02:21.12]She still loads up pogeys – a term used in the industry
[02:26.72]for menhaden fish – to put inside the traps
[02:30.92]to lure lobsters in.
[02:33.52]And, she still gets up before the sun rises
[02:37.88]to get an early start on the boat.
[02:41.64]In some ways, she was destined for this life.
[02:45.84]Her father was a lobster dealer
[02:48.88]who started around the 1900s.
[02:52.16]She joined her father on trips
[02:55.44]and that is when Oliver’s love of the business began.
[03:00.88]Wayne Gray, a family friend who lives nearby,
[03:05.08]said Oliver had a minor health problem a few years ago
[03:10.36]when a crab bit her finger.
[03:13.76]The incident required her to have seven stitches.
[03:18.20]But even then,
[03:20.00]she did not think about retiring her lobster traps.
[03:25.68]Gray said, “The doctor admonished her,
[03:29.40]said ‘Why are you out there lobstering?’”
[03:32.92]Oliver answered, “Because I want to.”
[03:36.80]After all these years, Oliver still gets excited
[03:41.72]about a lobster dinner of her own
[03:44.76]and said she usually prepares one
[03:47.88]for herself about once a week.
[03:51.20]When asked whether she sometimes considers ending her work,
[03:56.52]Oliver said she just does not see any good reasons to do so.
[04:03.12]“I like doing it, I like being along the water,” she said.
[04:08.72]“And so I’m going to keep on doing it just as long as I can.”
[04:15.24]I’m Bryan Lynn.
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