It wasn’t that long ago when you could stand at a lobster boat helm and see only a compass and VHF radio. The amount and type of electronics carried on a lobster boat in earlier days was limited. “When I started out in the 60s, well, you didn’t need much,” said a retired Spruce Head lobsterman who wished to remain unnamed. “Inshore you didn’t bother with radar, just another expense.”
Jason Philbrook’s family members have all been mid-coast Maine fishermen. Philbrook lobstered himself in Penobscot Bay during the 1980s and early 1990s before shifting into marine electronics at Rockbound Computers in Rockland. “In the 80s you had a compass, a radio and a depth finder, that was it,” he recalled. He started out as sternman for his father at a time when the electronic gear lobster boats carried was just beginning to change. “I helped him with the electronics, he helped me learn to fish,” Philbrook said.
When Philbrook started out, lobstermen didn’t fish particularly large areas and very few fished offshore. You generally knew where you were, even in poor weather, and you knew how to get home. “We would line up the cement plant [in Thomaston] and a visible object like the Rockport Drive-in to lay a course. And then take note of the compass to do the same if we had bad weather,” he said.
Slowly lobstermen began to set their traps offshore, some for part of the year, others year-round. “It wasn’t wise to just go by the compass if you were going offshore,” Philbrook said. “Loran was available but it didn’t always work.” Loran (Long Range Navigation) was developed during World War II using radio signals to determine location. The system began to be phased out in the U.S. during the 1970s.
In the early 2000s, Maine lobstermen were beginning to concentrate on offshore waters beyond the 12-mile line. To venture offshore meant a larger boat and, as marine technology changed, more electronic gear.
“You needed two radios, rather than just one. Maybe a satellite phone. Radar and autopilot. Computer and software. EPIRB. It’s an above average amount of money for the equipment,” Philbrook said drily.
Philbrook thinks the electronic devices have helped lobstermen fish more effectively and safely. But he takes exception to the notion that such devices have erased the need to actually know how to fish. “Fishermen learn about where the lobsters are every time they go out. They learn the migration patterns. If you don’t really know how to fish it doesn’t matter what tools are available,” he said.
NOAA charts for offshore waters provide the general bathymetry of areas but many lobstermen want more specific information about depths and bottom features. As a result, TimeZero, Olex, Hondex systems came into use. Computers now can create detailed and specific maps for each lobsterman, giving them a more precise understanding of the bottom and lobster behavior. “The computer can mark every time they set. They can track what the bottom is, mud or hard. They can understand the habitat,” Philbrook said.
He believes that the next step in the world of marine electronics will be expansion of Internet access on fishing vessels. “To go fishing used to be unplugged. You go out and do one thing very well,” he said. That has changed. Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet system provides high-speed broadband internet to remote areas around the world. Starlink provides a more affordable option for lobstermen to have high quality Internet on board. You buy an antenna, pay $200 a month and you’re no longer disconnected from the rest of the world,” he said.
If you have a minor medical issue or something needs to be repaired at sea, a fisherman can find YouTube videos on what to do. “If you’re twenty miles offshore and something goes wrong, I can give you tech support,” Philbrook said. It’s just one more new element of fishing in a rapidly changing world.
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