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Ballyhac Cove in Owls Head Maine with Boston Whaler Sport 130
John L Painter on Weskeag River operating Boston Whaler Sport 130 boat

I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am in the coastal Wawenock lands, unceded territory of the Wabanaki People.

I fish my traps in the Weskeag River, a short tidal river in Knox County, with head waters in the towns of South Thomaston, and Owls Head where I grew up.

In 2023 I removed over 360lbs, approximately 3,000 green crabs from the Weskeag River estuary.

I grew up here in Owls Head Maine, and even when I was thousands of miles away, I never really left. Though my father, a WWII veteran worked for the federal government, most of my family worked in the fisheries. My grandfather who was Finnish American owned a trawler and Captained it for many years out of Rockland Harbor. My Uncle was a lobsterman and along with several great uncles and many cousins and friends, nudged me in the direction of commercial fishing too.  But that was then.  I left the commercial fisheries to go to college and follow other passions.  Decades later, I've returned to the commercial fisheries, this time to catch green crabs, an invasive species wreaking havoc to our marine ecosystem. 

As a business proposition I started Maine Green Crabs to provide a means for the customer to take action in addressing global warming and asserting cultural values though utilizing an invasive species as an affordable, nutritious, and culturally significant food source.

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