From the Archive: MLA Membership Is a Tradition In One Family

By Shelley Wigglesworth

First published in Landings, March, 2016.

In their home port of Beals Island two young MLA members, both up and coming fourth-generation fishermen, are learning the trade of lobstering under the watchful eye of their father.

Eight-year-old Kaden Beal and ten year-old Damon Beal, sons of Sonny Beal, fish with their father on his 40’ Young Brothers boat, Nancy Anne, named after Sonny’s mother and the boys’ grandmother. The boat was owned and operated by their late grandfather, Ossie Beal Sr., who was president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association from 1967 to 1974.

Damon and Kaden Beal. Photo courtesy of Sonny Beal

Sonny Beal fishes 800 traps off shore and sets some for the boys inshore. “I usually set 20 or so but in 2015 I only set 10. Th is coming year, Damon will have 50 when he turns 11 in June and Kaden will have his license for the first time with 10 traps. I’m in the process of trying to find them their own boat. Just a small outboard,” Beal said.

Sonny started going lobstering at a young age with his own father. “I was probably five when I started with my father. I got my first boat when I was 12. It was a 22’ outboard that I fished through high school and college. My boys did the same — they started with me at a very young age before they had licenses. I would set traps in the bay for them to haul with me after I got in or on my days off . They were learning about bait and measuring

lobsters and the difference between legal lobsters and illegal ones — V-notched, egged — right off . Now I’ve been teaching them about watching the bottom for depth and rock piles and such.”

Damon talked about the knowledge he is gaining from lobstering. “I’m learning everything from baiting pockets to reading the chart-plotter. What lobsters are keepers and how to push the traps off the boat so they don’t roll over,” he said. Lobstering also allows Damon to experience things that not all kids his age get to, “like watching a lobster shed its shell in a tote,” he said.

Ossie Beal Sr. at work.

Kaden said he likes everything about lobstering. “Just being on the boat and hauling the traps and the excitement of seeing what’s in them,” he said. He did admit, however, that getting up early to fish is something he does not care for. When asked about his favorite fishing memory, Kaden joked, “Seeing my brother getting bit by a lobster.”

Sonny added, “They now do everything but break the traps on the boat. They aren’t quite strong enough for that yet. I simply run the boat and the hauler. When they get an outboard they’ll be doing it all.”

In addition to passing on the valuable knowledge of the ins and outs of lobstering, Beal is also teaching his young sons about the importance of being proactive and informed about the lobstering industry as a whole. Both Damon and Kaden are already MLA members, just as their dad was himself when he was a boy and just as their grandfather before him was.

Sonny Beal aboard the Nancy Anne.

Beal, who is also on the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative board of directors, said, “The boys already know the MLA is important because it is the voice for lobstermen all over the state, standing up to government and others and fighting for what the lobstermen need. The MLA has defeated many bills that could have been a huge problem for the fishing industry as a whole, problems that could not be tackled alone,” he said.

“The Beals have had a family affiliation with the MLA for a long time and we will continue to support and be a part of the MLA in the future.”