Zero Carbon Lobster Project
by Nat Hussey
Matinicus Island, Maine
Matinicus Island is Maine's most remote inhabited island, and provides access to a rich lobster and crab fishery. Conventional vessels are diesel powered. My vessel, Sweet Pea is a 15 foot traditional design equipped with a solar panel, battery, winch and electric outboard motor. I am in my second season of harvesting lobsters and crabs aboard Sweet Pea. The winch/motor and solar array is the only such operation to my knowledge. Now that I've freshly rewired everything for this year and worked the bugs out, the equipment works beautifully and gives me the platform I need to successfully keep fishing. I am seeking support to continue operating Sweet Pea and the Zero Carbon Lobster Project as well as to use the knowledge of fishing, solar technology and equipment to scale up the operation to a larger boat. This method of fishing is a win-win-win. The much lower overhead broadens economic opportunity for new fishermen. The clean energy source reduces pollution and CO2 emissions. Finally, because we don't spend many hours working to pay fuel costs, we can go a lot easier on the resource because we need to harvest fewer animals from the ocean to make a day's pay. The bottom line is that as unique as the operation is, it works and provides a model for sustainable seafood production. Thank you so much for reading. You can follow the adventure at www.nathussey.blogspot.com. Nat nat@nathussey.com |
