How Lobstermen Trap Giant Lobsters in Maine!!

in this video we'll be catching oh my God and eating live main lobster plugged straight from the ocean I'm excited give a little bit of a dimp cheers but before that let's back up this is our first stop on our epic East Coast Seafood Tour spanning all the way from Maine down to Miami first of all Maine what is it well it's a state but let's look up some other fun facts about Maine there's no internet here fun fact number one internet coverage is really spotty we begin in the largest lobster producing state in the USA where over 100 million PBS of these colorful crustations are harvested each year how many lobstermen are missing you know a finger down to like a knuckle there's quite a few but you got all yours yeah so far so good guiding us on our journey Jacob nolles America's most beloved lobsterman he's taught Millions what's required to take on this backbreaking work they got to be between 3 and a/4 and 5 in so that's the other side of our measure that's my wife's requirements for me today I'm on a mission to learn how Lobster trapping works so in Maine we actually can't keep them when they get too big we'll have to measure it to find out and the labor intensive process required to ship these guys to their final destination whether it's across the country or across the world right here in this area you're separating the good and bad Lobster what makes a bad Lobster and it all starts right here on this dock right now we're at a local Harbor there's a boat behind me and this boat belongs to Jacob NES you might be wondering who that is until you remember that wait I keep seeing this guy on Tik Tok and Instagram and YouTube it's that guy we have a fairly large female that's currently full of eggs the way he makes money is by fishing for lobster or caging the lobster go into a cage right now we're about to go out on this lobster boat to pull up some cages and see what we can find let's do this for me a fervent Seafood lover coming here to the most eastern Outpost of New England is an absolute dream this cold clean Atlantic water is home to one of the most sought after lobsters in the world all hand harvested from small day boats by independent lobstermen with special licenses Jacob just like Jacob mes put it there nice to meet you you are a lobsterman is that what it's called Lobster fisherman Lobster either one what's this place like I would say it's pretty oldfashioned how is it different from the rest of the USA we kind of got left back in time Maine sparsely populated with only 1.4 million is dotted with historic buildings cozy towns and more lighthouses than you could shake a stick out especially in the fishing world the average age of fisherman is 55 years old generational family driven I'm fifth generation and for five generations you've been able to do that and there's still enough Lobster yeah and that's thanks to the sustainability measures that are in place for it soon I'll be tasting one of Jacob's largest catches but snagging these lobsters in the Gulf of Maine isn't just about casting a net and counting your Bounty many of them are illegal to keep all right so we're pulling up to the first buoy on each buoy we have two lobster traps they're all baited they're sitting on bottom we're going to pull them up and see what's in them do you even remember how old you were the first time you got on a boat no I don't it was probably four or five with my dad it's just you've been doing it your actual entire life en life it's like on America's Got Talent when girls are like I've been dancing since I was two but for you maybe so yeah grew up doing it we got a few lobsters this is the first trap this is what we would call the header these are Pairs and here comes the tailor we got a real nice keeper here this is a large Lobster about a two pounder fantastic eating lobster so on a typical day we start much earlier than this 3:30 in the morning we have 800 traps stay in the water all the time and we just go out we pull 400 traps in each rotation we bring our catch back in and sell it at the end of the day it's just day trips we don't do any kind of trip fishing we got a real large female so in Maine we actually can't keep them when they get too big this one's probably a keeper it's very close we'll have to measure it to find out in 1872 main set the standard with a suite of regulations to safeguard its precious Lobster populations these same measures are still enforced today so I can quickly tell that most of these are too short there are strict size limits they all go back the traps themselves must be equipped with Escape Vents and biodegradable panels in the rare event a trap is lost these hog rings will Rust Out There door will open it will let everything in the trap out then there's the v-n notch a way of marking females who will be the future mothers of tomorrow's Lobster catch she's a proven breeder so we must let her go this is one of many things that keeps fishery so sustainable Jacob launched his Tik Tok Journey 3 years ago breaking down the ins and outs of lobster traffic somebody's already given her a notch if you've been watching my shorts you probably learned that the notch is a way to protect them now he has millions of followers and he's even been featured in The New York Times though he's become an internet sensation he hasn't left to see behind I'm going to open it up attempt to take out each species that's inside of here I'm going to start with this little guy oh yes it's a small joner crab we get paid better money for the lobster so that's what we target bye little guy all right we got oh this right here is it a boy or a girl that's a female y just look at their swimmer ettes here and their upper ones are very flimsy on the males they'll be bigger more stiff so we're keeping this one this one is probably too short actually oh no there's other regulations we can only keep them if they're over 3 and a/ qu from their eye down to the back of their shelf you can see this one's is clearly under 3 and a/ qu so she's got to be released as well they need a chance to show that they can breed we sometimes will give them a fish for a snack for the road if you've seen that I did see that I like that I'm going right to this gigantic one we've got in here see if I can do it oh my god wow those are very nice yeah talking about size it's a female he's got no knot so far we're okay what about the length along with three and a quarter they also can't be over 5 in that's the other side of our measure that's my wife's requirements for me yeah 5 in is very large so just barely legal this is actually a keeper really she's actually a hard shell she's going to taste much different than a soft shell lobster much different the soft shells are much sweeter I actually very much prefer the soft shell lobsters most of us when we're eating a lobster in a restaurant around the country are we eating a hard shell or a soft shell almost always you're eating a hard shell because they're durable they survive shipping much better soft shells aren't able to survive shipping we can't ship a soft shell to Florida I just feel so ripped off right now yeah well you're going to get to experience right here right out of the ocean you've got some this one right here is a nice soft shell next Jacob's preparing a meal fit for royalty dining on Fresh lobster for from Trap to table the star of the show this barely legal hard shell and some softies too all steamed the fisherman's way using salty ocean water obviously you know the Nuance of lobster you live here you fish for them you eat it often I eat it probably five or six times a year usually just for occasions my wife likes them so whenever she wants them I bring them home I don't eat them for myself necessarily I do enjoy them though yeah don't uh don't what don't smoke your own Supply don't get high on your own Supply after 12 minutes it's time to take a look these ones are definitely done we got a big one in here that we're going to give him five more minutes meanwhile Jacob whips up the local lobster dipping sauce here's a little trick we actually add vinegar to the butter this top secret don't tell anybody the vinegar adds great flavor to the butter and kind of cuts it in my opinion it's much better in the future Jacob aims to Pivot his online presence into a full-time gig while making lobster fishing the side gig but for now he's sticking to what he knows best when I said I wanted to try this giant nearly 4 lb Lobster you said nasty it does why from what I hear they are much less sweet hold on you're saying nasty but you don't even know for sure you want to bet five bucks well okay it's not going to be nasty but it's not going to be like these all right let's try it out the first thing we do is separate the tail from the body separate the tail flippers from the tail we have a hole right here in the back push your finger right in the hole work good oo there's a big tail that was like a magic button you pressed oh what's that part you're taking off now it's covering the poop CHS we can eat it but this is the more preferred part of the tail let's try it plain Cheers [Music] Cheers it tastes good I feel like it I'm surprised M how good it tastes it's pretty sweet it's on the edge of being tough but not too tough slightly stringy not too stringy let's try shadow that was our Benchmark now we're going to try one of these you'll notice that the tail has much less meat in it you take one tail I take one tail ready let's go for it m you can taste the sweetness you can taste the innocent it's so young oh that's so delicious very good clean sweet fatty and just a wonderful texture what I want to try next is the butter which you have mixed with vinegar which is something I've never tried before let's go for it M that's the best what that's my favorite that is super unique I don't feel like it takes away from the Flavor of the lobster not at all yeah it elevates the flavor of the butter that's really nice my favorite part of the lobster is actually the claws you can pull the knuckles right out more tender meat that is much more akin to like a crab leg much more light crab meat what's next with the Pinter claw we're actually going to have to break it there we go there's a piece for you that's my favorite bite right there thank you I'm excited let's give a little bit of a dip Bliss is that your favorite part too that's Nirvana I went to a new level of Food Heaven oh that's fantastic I just had this thought like you know if a Mormon knocked on your door and then they were like taste this and then you're like oh my God and they're like you could have that for eternity I'd be like where do I sign just a moment of perfection we can have more moments I can have more moments this is incredible all you can eat buffet it's raining and I don't even care even with today's abundant Harvest not all of these lobsters are considered good next we're headed to a facility where I'll learn what makes a bad Lobster and the tragic story of where they end up Victor how you doing good how are you now I'm told this is a processing facility for lobsters but then I was also told the lobsters come here they're alive when they leave they're also alive what kind of processing is happening here much of Main's live lobster Hall heads to facilities like lobster track do you pay them who pays them we pay them these centers can pross up to 600,000 lb of Lobster at a time and they can store 200,000 lb of live Lobster holding them for up to 3 months depending on market demand if you have overrun in the winter time same thing in the fall we'll put lobsters in we feed them take care of them I like you say take care of them like take them for walks give them medicine no medicine a Lobster Pound is designed to emulate the natural environment of the Crustaceans until they're ready to go to market Victor we're inside now right here behind me it's a giant pool it's full of baskets of lobster we're going to pull out we get what we call a basic boat run we then segregate whether it's a good lobster or a processed Lobster what makes a bad Lobster something that is not uniform to what you'd want to see on a dinner plate because the claws are different SI what happened there he could have lost that years ago of course they do regrow their claws so he's not up to speed yet same thing would like this one okay I could have figured this one out what do they consider this a pistol a well he's got one arm the bad lobsters where do they go a lot of times they go to Canada depending on what's Happening where they'll actually be broken down Canada you can have our crappy lobsters we're keeping the good ones they actually process them down into meat format where they can go in stews or they can go into Sushi somewhere where you don't have to see their disgusting one CLA body corre I had no idea there were so many deformed lobsters crawling around on the ocean floor cuz all you ever get to see are the beautiful ones on the flip side the good lobsters are meticulously sorted into seven weight categories this would be like three and a half those tipping the scales at over 2 lbs are labeled select and they fetch the highest prices where are you shipping these all around the world we have an office in Spain and Holland Vietnam Germany Berlin some of that will go Air Freight some of it will go by truck so some are flown wild there's a lot of Labor of Love Behind These in order to get this all around the world from here I'm going to ship myself to a nearby restaurant to try some of this lobster right here in Maine yeah there could be nothing better than eating lobster at a restaurant that was voted best of Portland here they've won best waterfront dining best deck and most important best lobster roll first of all very happy to be I'm excited because I'm from Minnesota far from an ocean so in my head I thought well we're not really a bunch of a seafood country but it's like oh wait maybe that's because I live super far from both oceans but you grew up in Maine I did there's a lot of seafood there is among their top sellers the classic steamed lobster with corn a Savory clam roll with plenty of fried clam and a legendary lobster roll of which they sell an impressive 600 portions daily and I'm about to make it 600 And1 but first I want to wet my appetite with another Main specialty this is clam chowder New England clam chowder iconic first marry salted butter and chopped pork together then stir until it turns golden brown something I've wanted to try my whole life I mean I've had Campbell New England clam chowder how would this compare add minced onions and celery then anchovies garlic more salted butter and stir they kind of made clam chowder the idea of clam chowder what it is so when people come and they're looking for a clam chowder they're looking for that thick consistency next keep adding allpurpose flour and mix until the blend becomes thick actually a traditional chowder is a thin soup oh okay we're giving the people what they want now pour in chopped clam that's been boiling with tomatoes isn't that heartbreaking it is a little bit I don't go to China and expect to see a cream cheese won do you still like this I love it I like both both good just different yes toss in clam juice mix diced potatoes mix then add salt white pepper dried parsley basil and half in half finally some gallion to top it off m m oh that's so [Music] good oh it's a wonderful combination of textures mushy potato and the clam is super chewy but it's a wonderful chewi you kind of like chewing the flavor out of it the potato chunks feel like more fresh MH am I comparing it to Campbell right now what type of clam are you using these are just like a like a run the-mill clam yeah there's places pretty close that you can dig clams right out of the oce one of my co-workers just is telling me about digging with their toes I don't think that's how they're doing it for these ones okay I hope not how long have you lived here I've lived in Portland for 17 years but I've lived in Maine my whole life when we first came here I was really excited I'm still excited but I was told this is the biggest city in Maine and I picture wow like futuristic metropolis and then I looked it up 65,000 people so what is the personality of Portland it's a foodie City people are passionate about cooking here we have access to beautiful Seafood we have a great Farmland here as well fresh veggies foraged foods and things like that we have beef Farms we have dairy farms we have potatoes we have blueberries we have a lot to offer foodwise so for someone who enjoys cooking it's awesome so the tourists who do come here what are they after uh Seafood what foods are most tourists after when they come here I mean I think Lobster probably after our freshly boiled Lobster has been chilled they meticulously extract the succulent meat from the tails to the tips of the claws a crisp lettuce leaf Nestles inside a Toasted Bun cradling the ch Lobster add a drizzle of melted butter served up with a side of golden fries and this Coastal Indulgence is at its best would you say that's a whole lobster in there yeah it's a meat from just about a one PB Lobster in each roll joining Carissa and me Portland Lobster Company owner Ethan Morgan M mhm so you have this great combination of temperatures actually you have the roll which is hot it's still steaming and then all the lobster inside is chilled you do have some butter on the side just in case if people want it yeah you got to try it it adds just a little salt adds a little bit more to it take it to the next level and that's really all you need it's so fresh it's so clean it's sweet it's fatty I love it what got you into this business I came here to P beers 20 years ago during college that was it I was going to spend one summer here on the coast just fell in love with [Music] it what's interesting to me about not just Portland but Maine is it has a small town F everyone feels very connected everyone knows everybody especially within this very prominent industry everybody knows some lobsterman people who work at processing areas people are selling the final product I guess one of my big questions is the people actually catching the lobster are they getting a raw deal because it seems like we have so many middlemen in so many Industries and it's never like oh the farmers increase their prices again no it's always like everyone else increases their prices the lobster is still $5 a pound the lobstermen work they work really hard they're the ones that are out there 3: in the morning 4:00 in the morning going out setting traps working all hours of the day to bring in not a whole lot you've been doing this for a long time what are the biggest challenges you face or that other Lobster men face there's a lot of times throughout the year where the fishing is poor and during those times we're limited to how far we can kind of explore and search for lobsters we just kind of got to wait and grind it out and during those times it becomes pretty tedious and then the back breaking work obviously is very physical labor my father my grandfather by the time they're 40 50 years old their bodies are worn out jeez yeah the tourist Market here in the state drives some of the price for sure but a lot of it is driven by processing houses a couple of months ago we'd start sourcing our own lobsters ultimately the goal is be able to work with a handful of lobstermen that we know and then we can pay them a fair amount more to cut out that middleman it's a pretty touchy subject here in the state for sure why is this a sensitive topic so the boats are coming in they're selling to a pound they're selling them on to somebody else everybody's tacking on 20 cents 30 cents here and there it's not that anybody is necessarily gouging it's just that it's an expensive process too you're trying to keep an animal alive and that takes an awful lot of resources to do so when it gets to the table you're seeing a fairly high price that isn't necessarily reflected on the boat what do you think is the future for the lobster industry here fishermen that are off the coast of domain they recognize that this is the industry for the state they recognize that it is their bread and butter and they're very good at self- sustaining they're setting their own regulations and it's been a model of sustainability that's something that more money needs to be driven to right now as we do start looking at warming Waters things I'm sure you learned the other day about v-n notching trap excluders everything like that they're not going to be over [Music] fishing if you love Indian food then you're going to love our new channel best ever food India subscribe now for weekly videos showcasing the most unique street food from around the country you want my gloves off whatever is comfortable Jacob put it there I'll take the gloves off I will start over there all right go ahead Jacob put it [Music] there let's do it again if you can look at this camera the wide angle one yeah the wide angle one wow look at this guy the primary purpose of these is to track entanglement with the endangered right wh is that it no I'm just thinking behind me yes is that the ocean correct okay that's it no I'm just kidding okay yeah oh cool a crazy homeless guy this is normal oh maybe he's a history teacher it sounds like he's giving us good information he's got lots to say lobster only yes correct nothing else in there nothing else all right those are all my questions oh what's that part you're taking off now so that's the Poop Shoot give it a fling no not to the lens right here we have a with a with a good catch I need some brain juice anyway boom guys that is the end of video number one here in Maine this is the first video in a long six video series of us checking out all the seafood the USA's East Coast has to offer and my God this was an incredible start how do we top live main lobster well you're going to have to stick around to find out I want to thank everybody who showed up in the video today from our Lobster men to the processing Warehouse to right here at this restaurant everything was fantastic and this was some of the best food I've ever had had in my life I have to come back to Maine before I perish anyways that is it for this one thank you so much for watching I will see you next time peace now I have gout I will have gout tonight

Channel: Best Ever Food Review Show

Views: 1,399,130

Keywords: Best ever food review show, befrs, sonny side, befrs team, food, around the world food and culture, USA east coast seafood tour, maine lobster, red lobster, How Lobstermen Trap Giant Lobsters in Maine, USA

Id: 3bXiKWoB1dM

Length: 19min 10sec (1150 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 11 2024