{"id":7553,"date":"2022-01-15T16:43:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T21:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/?p=7553"},"modified":"2022-01-20T16:44:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T21:44:09","slug":"secrets-of-lobstering-as-a-centenarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/2022\/01\/15\/secrets-of-lobstering-as-a-centenarian\/","title":{"rendered":"Secrets of Lobstering as a Centenarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Brie Weisman, OT, Maine FishAbility<\/i>
\nAlso published by Commercial Fisheries News January 2022
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

FishAbility: Secrets of Lobstering as a Centenarian<\/h3>\n

Maine\u2019s newest celebrity is the world\u2019s oldest commercial lobster harvester. At 101, Virginia Oliver has hit national and international news and was the November cover girl for DownEast <\/i>magazine. I had the opportunity to interview her recently, and thought this a fitting follow-up to my CFN December 2021 article \u201cAging and Fishing<\/i>\u201d.\u00a0 While it\u2019s hard to deny that genes have played their part, Virginia\u2019s choices and habits have also played a critical role in her extraordinarily long and successful career.<\/p>\n

Born in 1920 in Rockland, Maine, Virginia lives next door to the house where she grew up. She started her lobstering career at eight by helping her brother. After graduating high school, she married Bill Oliver, a lobsterman.\u00a0 While raising three children, she also worked at a local printing plant. When denied a request for a raise, she promptly quit and joined her husband hauling lobsters aboard his boat, The Virginia<\/i>. After Bill passed away, her son Max began hauling traps with her.<\/p>\n

Now at 78, Max is still working too, as the youngest crew member of The Virginia<\/i>. Fishing three days a week from May through mid-October, they leave home by 4:30 AM and are in the boat heading for Andrew Island by 5:00 AM. They haul 200 traps a piece, keeping their harvest separate, and return to the wharf between mid-afternoon to sell their catch.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Two
Brie Weisman, FishAbility OT and Virginia Oliver, lobsterwoman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What do you like most about work?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I like to do it, I grew up around it. Max has his side and I have mine. He usually takes them out. I measure them, band them, throw them in the tank.\u2019<\/p>\n

What do you least like about work?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I like it all. There\u2019s nothing I\u2019d rather do. I\u2019m the boss and like having Max there.\u2019<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the hardest part?<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Squeezing the bander. I injured my right wrist five years ago falling off a step ladder, so now I have to do it with my left hand. I never got my strength back. I practice to try to regain the strength.\u2019<\/p>\n

What have been the biggest industry changes in your 92 years of fishing?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018They put so many restrictions on it now. They keep putting more.\u2019<\/p>\n

How do you make lobstering easier for yourself?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I only go out three days a week and not in bad weather, not like I used to.\u2019<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one thing you don\u2019t want to leave on the dock?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I guess my water. We don\u2019t take lunch.\u2019 (Max, who is listening in, pipes up: \u201cwe go to work, not to eat.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Do you prepare for the season with exercise?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018No, I exercise enough on the boat, I do housework more in the off-season.\u2019<\/p>\n

Do you feel more tired at the start of the season?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018No! (to Max) Just wimps, aren\u2019t they?\u2019<\/p>\n

Have you adapted your gear over the years?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve been known to throw the measure tool overboard, so we\u2019ve attached a foam ball to it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Any tips\/tricks\/words of wisdom?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The thing of it is, today people want to set and watch TV all the time\u2013worst thing they could ever do. You got to keep moving. You really do.\u2019<\/p>\n

Is there anything you\u2019d tell your younger self to do differently if you could?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018If I had my life to live over, I\u2019d do just the same.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Brie Weisman, OT, Maine FishAbility Also published by Commercial Fisheries News January 2022 FishAbility: Secrets of Lobstering as a Centenarian Maine\u2019s newest celebrity is the world\u2019s oldest commercial lobster harvester. At 101, Virginia Oliver has hit national and international news and was the November cover girl for DownEast magazine. I had the opportunity to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"5","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[73,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fishability","category-news"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":73,"label":"FishAbility"},{"value":5,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/author\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":73,"name":"FishAbility","slug":"fishability","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":73,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":31,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":73,"category_count":31,"category_description":"","cat_name":"FishAbility","category_nicename":"fishability","category_parent":0},{"term_id":5,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"News about AgrAbility","parent":0,"count":258,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":258,"category_description":"News about AgrAbility","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7553"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7562,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553\/revisions\/7562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/agrability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}