SWANS ISLAND — Hauling in a research trawl 12 miles out from this offshore island on Saturday, the last thing fisherman Jason Joyce expected to find was the largest lobster he’s ever seen in his life.
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Sternman Andy “Iceman” Haney holds up a giant, 20-pound lobster landed aboard the research vessel Andanamra off Swans Island on Saturday.
Jason Joyce
SWANS ISLAND — Hauling in a research trawl 12 miles out from this offshore island on Saturday, the last thing fisherman Jason Joyce expected to find was the largest lobster he’s ever seen in his life.
What he did land was a 20-pound Maine lobster, big and rare enough to merit it being shipped to the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor.
“I thought at first it was a halibut,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
According to Capt. Joyce, he and his sternman, Andy “Iceman” Haney, were retrieving a trawl that consisted of a long line with hooks on shorter lines spaced every six feet or so. They were doing a ground fish survey for the Penobscot East Research Center aboard his boat, the Andanamra. The trawl was set in approximately 350 feet of water.
Apparently, the large lobster, which may be well over 100 years old, had been stealing the bait off the hooks when one of the shorter lines got wrapped around a claw.
“Up she came,” Capt. Joyce said. “When we got it up closer, I realized it wasn’t a big fish.”
Capt. Joyce immediately got on his radio and asked Department of Marine Resources officials if they wanted the specimen or if he should throw it back. Along with lobstermen having to toss back any lobsters that don’t meet a minimum size, large ones, those that measure more than five inches from the eye socket to the back of the carapace, cannot be taken without a special permit or permission.
“They told me they’d love to have it,” Capt. Joyce said.
He added that in years past, while crab fishing, he pulled up a couple lobsters that weighed 16 and 18 pounds, respectively, in the same general vicinity. “There are some big ones out there,” Capt. Joyce said. “This is the biggest I’ve seen.”
Earlier this year, the Maine State Aquarium studied and later released a 27-pound lobster, dubbed “Rocky,” caught off the coast of Cushing.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest lobster ever caught was a 44.3-pounder trapped off Nova Scotia in 1977.
Islander editor Earl Brechlin first discovered Mount Desert Island 35 years ago – and never left. The author of seven guide and casual history books, he is a Registered Maine Guide and has served as president of the Maine and New England Press Associations. He and his wife live in Bar Harbor.
Website: mdislander.com