MLA Junior Harvester: Everly Tripp

Everly Tripp, age nine but soon to be ten, runs ten traps with her father, MLA board member John Tripp from St. George. She started lobstering last year when her father took her out on his boat, Skyannira, to show her the ropes.

“I was kind of nervous because the waves were rough,” Everly recalled. “It was fun to spend time with my dad, get outside, look at sea creatures. We caught a horseshoe crab.”

MLA Board member John Tripp and daughter Everly. J. Tripp photo.

By the end of the summer, Everly had learned how to gaff the buoy, haul by hand, band lobsters and fill bait bags. This summer she is fishing from her own 18-foot skiff, hand hauling her ten traps.

“My dad comes with me. He keeps an eye on me but sometimes he just sits in the skiff,” Everly said.

John Tripp took Everly’s entire fourth grade class out to haul earlier this spring. For some students it was the first time they had ever seen how lobsters are caught.

The high point of the trip was catching what Everly called a “ginormous” lobster, which her father threw back. Finding different sorts of life in the traps is part of what Everly likes about lobstering. “We’ve caught sculpin, hake, cunner, cusk, lots of crabs,” she said. She plans to continue lobstering with her father, with a goal of getting more traps, a bigger boat and, eventually, a hauler.

Her long-term goal is a bit different. “I want to be a shark scientist, tagging sharks and learning about new species,” Everly said.

In the meantime, she will spend this summer lobstering, riding horses, sailing and doing what we all want to do during the warm months — going to the beach!