Remembering Gouldsboro's Dana Rice Sr.

A fixture in the Downeast fishing world passed away in April. Dana Rice Sr., 78, was a bait and fish dealer in Gouldsboro, where he was also a longtime selectman and harbormaster for the town.

Ellsworth American photo.

Rice was raised by his grandparents from whom he learned the ways of an older generation. His great-great-grandfather built the shingled house in Birch Harbor in which Rice grew up and raised his four children with his wife, Barbara. He started out tub trawling with his grandfather and grand-uncle Mike. He became a sardine fisherman, working first with Ernest Woodward and later on his own boat, the Jacob Pike. He sold his catch to Stinson Seafood cannery in Prospect Harbor and later became a successful bait and lobster dealer.

Rice volunteered his time to a number of organizations, including the Lobster Institute, the Lobster Advisory Council, and the Lobster Conservation Management Team. He was a member of the Maine Lobstermen’s Assocation and the Down East Lobsterman’s Association, and the Lobster Import/Export Dealers Association.

Rice was asked about past fisheries as part of an oral history project by the University of Maine in 2012. “Well, when I was younger everybody did a lot of different things. You didn’t necessarily make all of your living catching groundfish in the spring or scallops in the winter. You were able to fish around and do a lot of things, and it made for very healthy communities,” Rice said in the interview.

Soon after he retired as Gouldsboro’s harbormaster in 2022, the town dedicated its annual town report to Rice, saying he had made a “huge impact” on the community.

“You may know him as the select board chair, former harbormaster, lobster dealer and seller, bait seller, and much more,” town officials wrote in the report. “He is the ‘jack of all trades.’ We thank you and appreciate all the years of commitment and dedication you have given to all and the town of Gouldsboro.”