I mentioned Setting Day in a previous post and wanted to let everyone interested to know on yesterday the conditions were excellent for the fishermen to head out to sea and set the lobster traps.
May 3, 2022 was Setting Day in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. The previous Setting Day had been delayed because of weather conditions with high winds and dredging work needed in some of the 45 ports.
Dredging removes sand and other debris that accumulates over the winter. It clears a passage for the boats to leave port and head out to sea.
At 6 A.M. yesterday the call went out to the fisherman and the race was on to set the traps in the designated places.
As I mentioned before, Setting Day is the day the lobster fishermen are allowed to set their traps in the water in the eligible lobster fishing areas. The lobster season is open for two months.
I wasn’t at the Harbor in early morning. By the time I got there later in the morning, one women besides myself was watching some of the lobster boats returning to load more traps to take out to sea.
A crew of men loading a boat for a second or third time. Each boat is permitted 300 traps. Possibly three trips would be required to load the traps and take them out to the fishing area.
There are still lots of lobster traps on the wharf to be loaded on the boats and be taken out to sea.
Lobstering is hard, physically demanding work. Just look at a lobsterman's arms for visual confirmation of what it might be like to haul metal and concrete traps aboard the boat's stern all day long. The traps are about 4 feet tall and weigh approximately 40 pounds.
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A view of the Montague River from the boardwalk at the Harbor.
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May 3 brought a clear and calm morning for lobster fishers in Lower Montague to set their traps and kick off the 2022 season.
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Are you wondering how the fishermen tell their traps apart, from the other fishermen, after setting them in the water?
Different colored buoys as markers is the answer.
Each fisherman has an section of the water and an unique color set of buoys. A buoy is attached to each trap and floats on top of the water. This makes it easy to see the location of the traps.
This is a photo from my archives of a lobster trap and buoys that were used as decorations on someone’s lawn.
Wishing the fishermen a safe and prosperous lobster season!
