MLA Junior Harvester: Harrison Billings

You start young in the Maine lobster fishery.

Harrison Billings. Photo by Brian Billings.

MLA board member Brian Billings’ son Harrison came aboard about a week before his third birthday. Brian set around one hundred traps that day off Stonington and Harrison helped his father on nearly all of them. “It was the first time he’d been fishing with me. He was surprisingly good and pushed most of the buoys over for me before giving up on the last couple of strings,” he said. In fact, Harry has been on his dad’s boat since he was a baby, going on family trips or helping Brian bait up for the next day, all part of the intangible preparation Maine lobstermen give their children.

“He really enjoys it and seems to be a hands-on kid. Harry likes tractors, construction equipment, boats, pretty much anything you can ‘operate’,” Brian said.  A chip off the old block.