http://www.nicholls.edu/bastiatsbastions/2009/09/11/lob-ster-wars/ What is seen and what is unseen. Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:26:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.nicholls.edu/bastiatsbastions/2009/09/11/lob-ster-wars/comment-page-1/#comment-20280 Joel German Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:42:24 +0000 http://www.nicholls.edu/bastiatsbastions/?p=505#comment-20280 This is an everyday thing in our hometown of Clare Nova Scotia where there are over 11 thousand lobster licenses that are being fished around the province. So I understand where these fisherman are coming from, majority of them have no education, a family to feed, bills to pay, and keep their boat and license in this economic crisis, with low prices for lobster. So what happens is the other boats go and pull up other boats traps leaving the owner of the traps with nothing but dead bait and a family to feed. In small towns people tend to not know how to shut up about their business and the word gets out about who has bigger catches when they get to the warf. So the simple un-educated men do what they know best, resort to violence in an attempt to ward off the other fishermen gouging in their territory. Now I saw you stated that the territory is one that cannot be owned, but there is an unwritten code where the fishermen know the lines on which the others fish and those boundaries are only crossed when a partnership is formed between two boats in order to help each other out in different times of the season... But as I have also seen, every time there is an attack, a boat burned down, a boat sunk, someone crosses the lines and everyone gets their reality check, so unless you really put yourself in the position of these men ''Gangbangers'' who try to protect themselves from losing it all... we can't judge. This is an everyday thing in our hometown of Clare Nova Scotia where there are over 11 thousand lobster licenses that are being fished around the province. So I understand where these fisherman are coming from, majority of them have no education, a family to feed, bills to pay, and keep their boat and license in this economic crisis, with low prices for lobster. So what happens is the other boats go and pull up other boats traps leaving the owner of the traps with nothing but dead bait and a family to feed. In small towns people tend to not know how to shut up about their business and the word gets out about who has bigger catches when they get to the warf. So the simple un-educated men do what they know best, resort to violence in an attempt to ward off the other fishermen gouging in their territory. Now I saw you stated that the territory is one that cannot be owned, but there is an unwritten code where the fishermen know the lines on which the others fish and those boundaries are only crossed when a partnership is formed between two boats in order to help each other out in different times of the season… But as I have also seen, every time there is an attack, a boat burned down, a boat sunk, someone crosses the lines and everyone gets their reality check, so unless you really put yourself in the position of these men ”Gangbangers” who try to protect themselves from losing it all… we can’t judge.

]]> http://www.nicholls.edu/bastiatsbastions/2009/09/11/lob-ster-wars/comment-page-1/#comment-20278 Kristin Armond Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:50:20 +0000 http://www.nicholls.edu/bastiatsbastions/?p=505#comment-20278 I understand the conflict of this article and realized it is a reality in this time. You mentioned the same thing that happens in Maine with lobsters happen with oysters in Louisiana. Also, I know this happens in Louisiana with crawfish. I know someone who puts out crawfish traps in a local bayou in an area that is leased to him. This is how he makes a living. Although this area is leased to him and him only he often goes out to check his traps to see that they have been ran already. Knowing how upset he gets about this I can understand how people in Maine end up using violence to settle the problem, because that’s what my friend would probably result to if he ever caught the people that were running his traps. I don’t think that the government can do anything to stop this besides sit and wait watching people to steal, which is impossible because there is too much space to cover. People are going to steal no matter what laws or fees are put into place. I understand the conflict of this article and realized it is a reality in this time. You mentioned the same thing that happens in Maine with lobsters happen with oysters in Louisiana. Also, I know this happens in Louisiana with crawfish. I know someone who puts out crawfish traps in a local bayou in an area that is leased to him. This is how he makes a living. Although this area is leased to him and him only he often goes out to check his traps to see that they have been ran already. Knowing how upset he gets about this I can understand how people in Maine end up using violence to settle the problem, because that’s what my friend would probably result to if he ever caught the people that were running his traps. I don’t think that the government can do anything to stop this besides sit and wait watching people to steal, which is impossible because there is too much space to cover. People are going to steal no matter what laws or fees are put into place.

]]>