but you otherwise wouldn't have if it keeps you from looking stupid too. next on booktv encore booknotes. linda sat down in 2002 to discuss the chronicles the sequel to the hungry ocean and recounts her experience as the captain of her lobster boat and talks about global warming and other challenges faced. this is about an hour. >> the author of the lost chronicles you say that the world's most dangerous profession is fishing. d why?eater. >> mostly because of badn the

weather.h urls into whether sportfishing,i'v all different types of fishing. but i but fatigue is often a factorbiggesfactor. and whether is the biggest factor.bria c-span: how many friends have you lost over the years from phishing?but ere' >> guest: nearly a dozen. when you hear about someone going down are being lost at sea you may not know them, but you do feel some connection. >> 21 years. >> why do you fish? >> guest: i'm passionate about fishing and people ask me what you like about it i like the way that i feel that my nasty. c-span: where did you start? >> guest: at the time it was a summer job to pay my way through college. i went to colby college in waterville maine. c-span: this book is one for you?

>> guest: book number two. c-span: what was the number one and when did it come out? >> guest: hungry ocean published in 1999. c-span: about? >> guest: the book is structured around a 30 day fishing trip to the grand banks of newfoundland. >> what is your relationship with the storm movie? >> guest: most people recognize my name as the woman that survived the perfect storm. i was the captain of the andrea gail sister ship. most people make the perfect storm connection very quickly. i was running that of the last six years i swordfish and because of the book people were asking how did it change your life and the event didn't change my life a great deal that the book by sebastian changed my life. i started because of a very

generous portrayal of me in that book, started getting a lot of attention from the media and got attention from publishers. c-span: what year did you start writing lacks >> guest: is typically one year so i started in 1998 and they crashed in 1999. c-span: in august or because number two on "the new york times" bestsellers list. did you ever think that would have been? >> guest: i was surprised and thrilled. c-span: white mac like you think that this is happening? >> guest: i have a theory people are interested in hearing nonfiction written by someone who has done what they are talking about because they get so many people saying they felt like they were on the boat with me and they fought like it is a very genuine story and people sign the league could seem to find it refreshing. c-span: it's enormous. the number of places you've gone. >> guest: it was supposed to

be two months taking me from 60 bookstores and now it's being extended so i'm going to go home for a little while in september and then go back onto her for maybe a couple of weeks in october. c-span: how is the crowd? >> guest: i've been surprised not so much in maine. it's my home state i was anticipating support and i've got enough that i have been and pleased with the support outside of maine. c-span: white you think they are coming out at the bookstores, what are the first couple of questions they ask? >> guest: dot everybody knows the commercial fishermen. the people are generally interested in that. the first couple of questions people are interested in how did you go from college to phishing and how did you go from fishing to writing.

c-span: what is the chapter about? >> guest: exam and airmen for a young man that showed up on the island of looking for work asking for a job. i didn't mean a stern man because my dad works for me. but this kid was persistent. you don't even have to pay me. it's been my lifelong dream to go fishing that immediately through the course of of maybe a month of having him work for me i discovered things about him that aren't that good and so he fooled me which wasn't the most pleasant thing that -- >> host: how did he fooled you? >> guest: i liked him and he was a great worker and a nice person and in the end it turned out he wasn't such a nice person

to be stood up its hurtful to put confidence in someone and hired them and have them be a no-show. he was very handsome. he was in his early 20s. c-span: where did he end up? >> guest: he ended up stealing my vehicle i have on the mainland and disappeared for a couple of days and word got to him but i wasn't very happy and he never showed back up to work after that. c-span: where is the island? >> guest: is 7 miles off the mainland coast of maine. c-span: how do you get their? >> guest: to get to the island

you have to have your own boat or travel by mail boat which has a contract with the postal service to bring it back and forth so it's not the easiest place. it's a beautiful island. the people are great. they are quirky. we are a bit of a mod group. c-span: is there anybody named rita in actuality? >> guest: i used her real name. people always ask about her end of the way she got into my book. i missed two thirds of the way through and my editor called me & you can't love everyone. you're not going to have credibility. isn't there anyone out there that you generally dislike and i said yes. and i wrote more than he cared to hear about this character. she was one of my closest neighbors for the first two years that i was back on the

island and she was a major nuisance. she would come over uninvited. she would be in my house using the telephone without permission and after time and time again don't come in if we are not home it was sort of hard to deal with. islanders are very noncontroversial. we don't like conflict. so it's easier to allow somebody to. c-span: whatever happened to her? >> guest: she moved off the island less than a year ago and lives on the mainland. i'm sure annoying somebody else now. c-span: what do people do in a situation like that when you are very close? >> guest: for the most part nobody says anything. nobody wants to confront

anybody. it's easier to sweep it under the rug or ignore it. but you would certainly never wants to make waves or mention it to someone. it's a small close-knit community that most everyone is aware of what's going on. c-span: the main reason that we wanted you to do this program was kind of a sub theme in the book it's not prominent but it's regulation and above all fishing and lobstering and a couple of things that directly affect the estate standpoint. the lobster pot itself tells how you make it up. >> guest: there is a size restriction and there is these escapes for the lobsters to get out of. it's all very legal. they have restrictions on what you can put in the water.

c-span: who tells you the lobster has to be a certain size? >> guest: there are federal and mainstage regulations that i'm governed by the state of maine. >> guest: somebody wants to be a lobster fisherman how do they start? >> guest: it's hard to start right now because there is a moratorium on the licenses. that is relatively new. maybe the last four or five years that come into effect so you have to be an apprentice apprentice for writing gets three years and give a lot of paperwork and have marine natural people sign off on all of the days that you spent as an apprentice before you can. c-span: do you have a licensed? >> guest: i have a mainstage license since i was a kid and i renewed it every year i kept my lobster license so when i decided tonight was all set. c-span: what does it cost to

have a mainstage lobster license? >> guest: the license i have is $217 for the season, so it's not a great deal of money. c-span: company are there in the state of maine? >> guest: thousands. i wish i had the exact number. there are people that make their only living where most of their income catching lobsters. c-span: how many women are there? >> guest: not very many. they have their own boats boat like myself and there are more and more men and women that work in mr. the boat for a father or boyfriend or uncle. c-span: white you need a stern and? >> guest: you get a lot more done. you can haul a lot more. if somebody is picking the traps or taking the lobster out we put the date in. it goes a lot better and it's a

lot safer. fishing alone is dangerous if something happens. i think fisherman in general are democratic by nature. it's a self-sufficient group. it's about the ultimately being self-employed. c-span: what else is controlled? we are talking about where you catch the lobsters. what about the boat size? >> guest: it's not controlled by the license. in other fisheries it is because the federal license for the groundfish is by the size of the boat. some would be too expensive and

somewhat be too small because you couldn't do the work. c-span: what about the size of the lobster? >> guest: in the state of maine we have a lobster measure that has two sides. one size measures to make sure that it's big enough and the other side to make sure that it's not too big so what is undersized it is undersized and oversized survey gets thrown back to the very small obviously gets thrown back. c-span: what is the size that you can keep? >> guest: i don't know what the exact measurement is and i wouldn't dare to say because i would be off one way or another. c-span: is plus 5 inches at the body of the lobster. >> guest: that is the length of the body measured from the eyesocket to glare at the end meets the tail. c-span: why does it change all

the time? >> guest: if changes every time a lobster sheds it grows anywhere from up to half an inch. c-span: does the state changed the length of their measurement every time? >> guest: it's been increased so they have to be better to keep which is good for conservation and further reproduction of the lobster. it keeps it healthy. there are state agencies that control all the fisheries. there isn't like a lobster person that the main marine resources. the observers go on to do

studies for the state and they also are marine patrol people to make sure everyone is in compliance. it's not unusual to be boarded and make sure that you are not keeping undersized lobsters because it is illegal to do so. c-span: what would have been? >> guest: if it is a first offense you may get a fine. second or third you could lose your license which would be devastating for someone trying to pay bills and raise a family. if you lose your license you are out of business. is there a regulation on how many traps? >> guest: is an 800 trap limit and different zones in the state are in several. we are about 800 but there are

others that have committed to a smaller. they fish finished 600 for instance have a maximum. you can only fish six days a week. c-span: why is that? >> guest: i think there's no fishing on sundays to keep some of the part time out of it. a sort of protect us from the people that are making all of their living. it's hard for someone to put a lot in the water if they have one day to fish which would be saturday. c-span: how many are you allowed it to catch? >> guest: there is no quota. only on the number you can fish and the hours you can fish them. as many as you can get in those hours and in those days. c-span: in normal time begins when? >> guest: daylight would be normally when you would go to get the date of the word about and as soon as you can see the

first you should be hauling. c-span: what time do you get out when you have to hit the first flight saves the early part of the summer, 4:30 in the morning, what time? >> guest: 4:30 shake my father out, shake my father out of bed to have some coffee. normally we try to hold 200 today and that's not a really long day. that's a pretty comfortable day. we start early and we are done by two or three in the afternoon. c-span: when you say hall what do you mean? >> guest: the traps from the bottom of the ocean getting aboard the boat to bait them and sent them back. how heavy is the traps? >> guest: one is around 30 pounds. they come in different sizes and configurations. we have breaks to make sure they landed right side up or down on the bottom of the ocean and some people believe anymore and some people believe in fewer.

i like smaller traps because they are easier for me to handle physically. c-span: what is the largest in the state? >> guest: 4 feet long. c-span: what is the smallest? >> guest: there isn't a limit to how small that it's advantageous to fish the biggest track you can because there is more room in a trap for lobsters. c-span: when did you write the last word for the buck what was the date do you remember? >> guest: which was this past march. c-span: march of this year. and of the season that you are writing about your you said is a rotten season. c-span: i'm writing about my first lobster season because the first part of the book is about going home after being gone for 17 years. i'm writing about my first season. it was a slow start. it did get good but then something happened and i sort of lost interest in the season so it was terrible for me. c-span: what year was it that you are writing about? >> guest: it would have been

1996. c-span: how did you recall all of the stories? >> guest: most of it was from memory. i don't keep a diary or a journal or anything like that but when i started writing the book i have been fishing for four years so i know the basic. we have to get ready. we will not catch anything early in the season. i write it did get good at one point and so i knew the structure is going to be the lobster season which i was familiar with. c-span: when does a lobster and fish? >> guest: where i fish it is basically may through december 1 but the bold are caught in september october. c-span: and what happens with months? >> guest: basically july

through october we are catching the soft shell later in the season and earlier we would be catching more softshell which are the ones that are very full of meat. c-span: what do you get paid on a normal basis for every kind of lobster that you bring, do you have a co-op? >> guest: we have the island lobstermen association. right now we are catching mostly shutters. the prices are down $3 a pound. later in september the price will drop a little bit more simply because there are more lobsters being caught in a lot of the seasonal places are closing down the time of year. c-span: if you are a lobster eater in the country what's the best time to order a lobster and what is the worst time? >> guest: dollar per pound you are better off getting a hard shell lobster. it's more expensive because they are less abundant because of the

weather and the seasons there are not as many so it's more expensive but it's packed into the show so you're getting more for your money. personally i like the softshell lobster. if i'm eating them at home i wouldn't eat one in the restaurant because i would make a mess. i would rather eat three or four. it's sweeter they are easier to get into. c-span: the last year you can remember the statistics on how many are caught in the state of maine. >> guest: i couldn't even begin to tell you. c-span: i seen a figure. the two figures, one is $300 million into the lobsters were sold in the last year and 57 million. >> guest: i was going to say probably a million pounds would be great. so the 3 million-dollar figure would be -- 300 million. maybe after it's gone through a few middlemen but not to the fisherman.

if they are getting $3 a pound of the consumer isn't getting a good break on the lobster. somebody is making money along the way. c-span: what do they make an eight-year? >> guest: they make a good living but he's earning it coming is fishing year-round hauling a lot of traps and has a big investment, probably has a bigger boat probably has the biggest traps his money can buy. anything from a really good living to part-timers to kids that go just during the summer hauling by hand a handful of traps. brian mccarthy allowed us to halt a handful if they don't have a license? >> guest: they have to have a license to do so but there are recreational licenses people can get to finish tied for six traps. c-span: in the book you see a good lobstermen can make $100,000 a year? >> guest: that isn't unusual for some of the highlighters.

i would consider that a good year. >> guest: in my opinion he's the best and i think he works the hardest. c-span: if you are the best what is it that you do that is not so good it makes you a success? >> guest: when i see him whether he's on his boat or on shore she's always working. he and his father have a fish house or shop where they work on their gear, they are there constantly. any time of day i go by the matter the weather it is a constant job. c-span: using your dad is 71 at the time. >> guest: she's now 72. c-span: and your mom had cancer? >> guest: my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer just about a year ago and three days ago she had a doctors appointment and this was a good time because it's the first time of year she had been declared cancer free so

very good. c-span: mac why does your dad work with you as your storm in? >> guest: she's a retired suit and tie kind of guy and a happened quite naturally. i was looking for someone and he was very willing to go. he couldn't be happier because now he is running my boat and it's worked out really well. i've always had a great relationship with both of my parents but as a kid i liked to do the hunting and fishing and the working so it's been nice to go home and reconnect with my father and work within. c-span: where were you born? >> guest: stamford connecticut and i lived there for three months and i've moved back with my parents were dead link ever since. c-span: where is the relationship with your family? >> guest: my dad's family is from the island. i am fifth-generation on the island. c-span: when did they come there on the first place and are what circumstances? >> guest: everyone that visits to the island it was attractive

to live on the island would say the 18 hundreds that changed somewhere along the way with the advantage in the steam engines no longer selling to the fishing grounds, don't need to be as close now because we have these engines and also high school education made it so that high school kids have to move off the island. so what sort of depopulated between the two things between kids having to go to school, the main state regulation and gasoline and steam engines. c-span: where did you go to grade school? >> guest: in a really small town. c-span: there is a school on the island still? >> guest: it's one of the remaining in the country. one of very few on the remote outposts of islands. kindergarten through eighth-grade there eighth grade there will be six students in the school this year. and why didn't you go their?

>> guest: my father worked at a shipping company in maine. so that was going to work and we were going off to school. c-span: did you go off to school -- >> guest: it was always my dream to live off the island year-round i hated leaving the island in the fall so i had these great memories on the island. c-span: where did you go to school? >> guest: at a school named mount ararat. >> guest: what were you interested in those years? >> guest: i liked school. i was into sports. i was a weekend fisherman at the time. my parents were always very avid sports fisherman so i grew up in the summers trying to catch anything that is when around my home and i always like to school and enjoyed it but also. one brother and two sisters.

c-span: arthur ages compared to yours? >> guest: brother and sister are eight years younger than i am and one older sister that is two years older than i am. c-span: where do they live? >> guest: we are all in maine. my brother and sister are in portland, my older sister -- my older sister is a housewife and my brother is a marine engineer but shipped out for a while and now works a land-based job and my younger sister is an executive businesswoman. c-span: and what do they think? >> guest: they don't want to be me that they are very proud of what i've done and my accomplishments or whatever. i'm very quick to say that i've had a great number of failures but everything i've done has been hard work whether its success or failure i'm a real one of the physician. i can't play anything.

sometimes it's a very very good and sometimes it's very bad. i had a summer job to help pay my way through college and that was out of a place called the island main. a very good friend of mine in high school whose father owned a swordfish boat so i knew do a fishing. i went to school whose parents were fisherman and i knew that it was an opportunity to. so fishing was good money when i started. c-span: how regulated? >> guest: and a fisherman whether it's commercial or recreational we are the most highly regulated managed and monitored in the world and that's not to say that's bad. regulations are needed.

i'm a conservationist and i like to know that there's into the future. it's probably the oldest industry in the world would've me be with maybe the oldest industry in the world. the problem is regulations are so strict in what has a lot have been regulated out or forced out by the business. the litigation and conservationist groups are suing another group stepping in and getting the federal government to step in and force the laws on the fisherman. the last iran is a 100-foot boat. c-span: when you were talking about how many worked on the book with you?

>> guest: i started on a 70-foot boat and there were six people. c-span: how long would you be out? >> guest: sword fishing trips we tried and the fishing is best from the first quarter for the last quarter through the full moon we try to debate back and forth at the time. c-span: when you have a fishing day how long is it? >> guest: reset the gear at night. leave it for a few hours, start hauling this long piece of lying line back on board the boat. daylight is three-time to 30 in the morning so it is an early start to the day takes a lot to get this 40 miles back onto the boat. c-span: so you see worked as a cook in the summertime. what did you study? >> guest: i studied english and government.

c-span: why did you do either one of those? >> guest: when you're supposed to be declaring your major i don't know what i thought at the age of 19 ipod attorney sounded good. i wanted to be a lawyer. that's pretty close to pre- law and it sounded like a good thing to do so that's when i studied. i enjoyed both of them but i knew i wouldn't be going to law school. c-span: when you told your mother you were not going to be a lawyer and you were going to be a fisherman, what did she do? >> guest: she wasn't very happy and i write about one in particular of my mother breaking every dish in the house she was upset i was throwing my education away after years. my parents never gave up on the law school thing. when i graduated and told them i was going fishing it was a good idea but for 17 years i sort of end were to be attention of getting a real job you are

wasting your education. and i do a lot of speaking out since i got notoriety. i have an opportunity to speak to students quite often and one of the things i say is my education has never been wasted regardless of what my parents sought in the past i use every bit of my education whether i've been fishing or writing or interviewing it's never wasted. you will hear people say education is a tool. education isn't a tool. it's not like a screwdriver that it's laying around to torment. you are using it all the time. it's part of you. c-span: >> guest: she wasn't very happy. it wasn't the first occurrence. are you like your mother or father? >> guest: a little bit of both

i graduated in 1983. c-span: had he worked during worked during the summers every year? >> guest: at the age of 19 english highway through school after i graduated i started fishing year-round. c-span: 17 years on a sword fishing boat did you buy your own boat and some think? >> guest: i ran other people's votes for them. very typical. there were a lot of owner operators, there are quite a few c-span: give us the range on what people can make as a sword fisherman. >> guest: as a person working on back you get a percentage it's called a settlement in if you get a good trip a person

working could make $10,000 a trip to 10,000 a month. really good money for college kid. how many months can you do that? >> guest: you can swordfish year round. some of the fleet will travel down to the caribbean in the winter months. c-span: are you regulated or do you have to have a license? >> guest: you need a federal license to fish and there are all kinds of regulations and closed areas where you cannot fish and size restrictions and all kinds of regulation. c-span: what can you make if you are hired? >> guest: generally you would make about twice as much as one of the crewmembers. but there are so many months that that could make nothing. he would make nothing. there is something we call the broker going for for a month making zero. sometimes you are lucky to pay the expense.

you can lose with $30000 that's going to be thrown away. it's gone at the end of the trip, $40,000. c-span: so what's the worst thing that happens when you are out at sea? >> guest: it could be a combination of bad weather and poor fishing. one of the others you can handle if it is nice. but if you couple that fishing and bad weather it is hard to stay optimistic. c-span: did you ever think you were going to lose your license? >> guest: i would be lying if i said i've never been frightened at sea. we fish during hurricane season and quite often we are a thousand miles from the dock. less dangerous because you are not subject to the weather as much but you are far from the dock and during hurricane season and it's dangerous.

c-span: c-span: would you do to prepare yourself for that? >> guest: it's more that it's 90% experience into 10% a bad feeling. i've been on a vote a long time and i know there are certain things you do if bad weather is coming. to get a good captain a qualified experienced captain there aren't many new people because of regulations and restrictions. there's not a lot of blood rushing to.

>> guest: c-span: is there a lot about how much there is from the government? >> guest: it is disconcerting to be subject to all of the regulations and seemingly a lot of them are wasteful. i can give you the best example of the that regulation. i know the regulations are needed. it's a fisherman struck to catch so the conditions are certainly needed to raise restrict people because the dalia photos but they have. no matter what they set the quota there will be those that exceed the dalia quota that will be throwing overboard. that does nothing for conservation. it's very wasteful. c-span: when did you decide no more sword fishing. i want to start to be a lobster man? >> guest: i felt like i didn't

see a way to improve. i had the nicest boat we were doing very well. government regulations are making it increasingly hard to make a good living and i was ready to go home and i've been gone for 17 years. late 30s, ready to go home. it seemed like a good time and still have an ability to work on the water. c-span: what happened to the family? >> guest: it seems that it wasn't the best way to facilitate the family plan. i say there are three single men in residence, two of them are and one of them is my cousin so i've taken a little but the flak about that. c-span: from? >> guest: a couple others on the island but know that they are not my cousin. c-span: how many names in here are the actual names? i know noticed you said you used synonyms. >> guest: i have to composite characters george and tommy and

i changed one name. c-span: island boy repair was about what? >> guest: they came to the island and decided to stay. i call them the quintessential island suckers. they are the handy man who seemed to screw things up more than they fix. c-span: c-span: rad still on the island? >> guest: there are people like that on every island i've learned there are people like that just where i live and they seem very familiar. c-span: tammany lived there have read your book? >> guest: most everyone has read it at this point. before it was available in bookstores i was nervous how the

islanders would receive my book and what they see it as an invasion of privacy. so far the reports are very positive which i couldn't feel better about. i was very nervous about it for a while and toy started getting good reports and feedback. c-span: if you get in the car at the the mainboard or how many hours does it take you to drive and then you have to take the boat over? >> guest: from the mainboard or it would be about a four-hour drive ended in a 40 minute boat ride. c-span: and how long can you go over? >> guest: this time of year there are three boats one in the morning, one made a and one today and one in the afternoon so it's easy for people to come out and check it out. half of it is a national park so there are a lot of trails. a lot of beautiful things to see and get back on the boat and go back to the mainland. c-span: mac are there places to stay? >> guest: there is one, the the keepers house bed and

breakfast. they are booked a year in advance. it's a beautiful place and they do a great job. great food, beautiful surroundings. they have no trouble. c-span: and using its extensive? >> guest: i think it's expensive. c-span: $300 a night. >> guest: i just came from new york and now i think maybe it's not that expensive. c-span: is very large increase of people on the island of december? >> guest: yes we have a big summer community. the population is from 40 year round and 8300 in the middle of august probably the busiest time on the island. it's interesting the summer community they've been coming from generation to generation. a lot of the summer people have been on the island longer than the year round people said there isn't the animosity or between the the year-round and summer people. we don't have that where i live we get along quite well. c-span: you said you lost about 12 friends. tell us about the 1983 incident.

>> guest: the 1991 perfect storm? c-span: now i'm thinking of the one where the five -- >> guest: sorry about that. i know what you're talking about. yes, i was a senior in college watching television and i heard this news flash about some young people being lost at sea. i was trying to find out what was going on. five young people left the island to see a movie and they went to the mainland to go to a movie and on the way back the boat capsized from pcs and three of the people died in the water. c-span: did you know that? >> guest: i knew one of them very well. one was an acquaintance and the third i did know at all. c-span: how do you know now when you are lobster fishing whether or not you have a storm

problem and do you have ways of keeping in touch with the whether? >> guest: every fisherman has a weather radio. you listen before you get on the boat in the morning. also the radio leaves for communication has weather channel you can turn on any time of day. it's a continuous recording of weather reports. so even with the radios, the best indicator of what the weather is going to be is a boat a few miles west of you. it moves from west to east. it's not a factor where i fish. if i get up in the morning and it's bad, i don't have to go. i don't have to hold traps. i'm never more than 15 or 20 minutes away so if it does look like it is going to get that i can scoot in. c-span: so you get out and how long do you stay out on any given day? >> guest: it would be until like 4:00 in the afternoon.

the nice thing about being self-employed is anytime in the day any time in the day you feel it's going to stop you can. my father and i try to halt to traps they. if things are going well and everything runs great and we don't get a line in the wheel of the propeller we can be that can be done by 4:00. c-span: how many do you have at any given time? >> guest: i have a license to fish and maximum but i only have 400 in the water right now. c-span: what is the biggest catch that you have had on any given day? >> guest: i had 15. so close to 20 pounds in one trap. that's very unusual. c-span: how long has that happened? >> guest: it's only happened once. in the times for me if i'm averaging 3 pounds per trap that's very good. c-span: that is the biggest lobster you've ever can't? >> guest: we throw them back. legally we have to.

a 20 pounds. 20 pounds. i spent three winters fishing offshore with a much bigger boat and a lobster sometimes are much bigger offshore. so i've caught some large lobsters. c-span: and what's the worst or do you have many that you get absolutely no lobster at all? escalation of her habit a. i haven't caught a single lobster that i do do a member of the single first time i hold traps in my career, couldn't wait to go and hunted for the end of the day we had 17 monsters. it wasn't a good day. .. escalates. it starts off as something so simple as a newcomer comes to an area lobstering is very territorial, and somebody comes who is not welcome in an area and it starts with basically cutting a few of maybe his buoys off so he knows that's a warning to move his gear out of the area. if he retaliates and doesn't know who to cut and he just cuts anybody, then those people

who get cut don't know who did it and they retaliate and cut anybody and before you know it everybody is cutting gear and it's very expensive. brian: have you been been you there one? linda: i've not been through a very serious gear war. i have lost gear that i suspect has been cut away, and i would be lying to say i never cut anybody else's gear but it's never escalated to a point of what you would consider a war. >> is this the kind of thing that lobstermen don't like to admit? linda: well, it's illegal so of course, nobody wants to admit to cuttinsomeone else's gear. there are a lot of people saying i lost gear and somebody cut me but you never hear somebody saying i cut that guy out of the water. brian: if you have 400 trps and 200 buoys is that right? linda: yes, that's correct . >> two traps per buoy. what color on the buoy do you have and who determines what the color is? linda: each fisherman has their own colored buoy just to distinguish their own gear from somebody else's. the fisherman picks the color the buoy color, him or herself when you apply for your license with the state of maine, part of the application indication

is what is it your buoy pattern, so mine is orange, yellow, and white. brian: how much of the co-op -- or how many fishermen in your area belong to the co-op you have on the island? linda: there are about a dozen who are full-time lobster fishermen who belong to the co-op. brian: how much of what they do is controlled by the state law? linda: as far as fishing? brian: yeah, just the way they operate. i know you say that -- i mean, the way the co-op works the bonus that you get is usually -- it comes out around tax time or after tax time. tell us about the bonus and how that works. linda: right. well, the bonus that we get is a result of pounding lobsters or when we catch lobsters in september and the price is very low, we have a real natural pound, it's called. it's a salt water area where you can put lobsters to store while the price is low and then take them back out in the winter, lets say february or march when the police is back up high and -- when the price is back up high and the extra money or profit is divvied up

among fishermen as the bonus . >> and at a given time in i normal year, how big a bonus is it? linda: anywhere, since i've been back to the island, we've had anywhere from a 50-cent per pound bonus to a 75-cent per pound bonus and it's a bonus not on what you put into the lobster pound yourself but it's a bonus on what you have sold to the co-op all season. so if you catch 10000 pounds for the season your paid on your -- you're paid on your 10,000 pounds. brian: when does that check usually come to you? linda: right in april at tax time so it's a good time to be getting some money because most fishermen have been all winter making nothing. you have uncle sam to deal with, and it's a time of year when you need to spend some money to revamp your gear. you know, you need to buy paint for the boat and buoys and maybe some new traps and new line and other things that you need to -- for the new season. brian: in your book you say i have been caused all my life of keeping too much inside --

accused all my life of keeping too much inside. i thought you spent a lot of time talking about yourself in these books. has th been hard? linda: yeah it was such a difficult book to write because it was so personal. really difficult to write about yourself and difficult to write about relationships with family and community and so difficult to articulate this very deep and profound love of place. it was a real tough book to write. brian: what about this about yourself? you tell us in there you want to be married, you want to have children. linda: right, i do and people are sometimes a little surprised. i can't believe you're so candid about your personal life and your desires to get married and have children. i think, you know, it's not something i'm ashamed of. i'm not you know, ashamed to say, yeah you know, i'd like to have a very traditional family. >> so how are you going to do this if you're on the island all the time -- don't have much choice there. has it helped being on the book tour? linda: well, book tour has been interesting because, you know, i get a few cards from people or generally if i go into a bookstore to do a signing one of the women who works in the

store will say i have a guy to introduce you to but it's not really -- you don't really get a chance to meet anybody on book tour for more than five minutes because you're here and then gone to the next place so that's not the best way to meet somebody, i don't think. brian: so what's next after this book? is your life going to change again, two successful best-selling books? linda: i've signed a contract to write a third book so i know what my immediate future will be. brian: what's that? linda: when i'm done with my book tour i'm going home to finish the lobster season and when that's over, i'm going to start writing a third book. i would like to write a novel. brian: about? linda: well, i don't have a plot but whatever i write all i know about is fishing and boats and islands, so i have a setting and that's about it. brian: why a novel? linda: i am so sick of writing in the first person. i am so sick of linda greenlaw. i think it might be refreshing to not have to really feel compelled to stick to the truth and wondering how people are going to feel about when you're saying about them. i think it might be a relief to

maybe let my imagination play a bigger role in my writing. brian: how did it work after your first book came out and by the way, can folks still buy it, is it still in stores? linda: yes yes it is. it's available in paperback. brian: and it's called? linda: "the hungry ocean." brian: and then how did the second book come about? how did it work with your act how did it work with the book publisher? linda: because the first book did well, i was approached by the same publisher hyperion to write a second book and i said yeah, i'd like to write a novel and they said, no we would like for you to write another nonfiction. so they gave me a two-book deal which was "the lobster chronicles" first and the third book hopefully to be something of my choice. brian: this is private but are you going to make a lot of money off this book? linda: well, you know, my pipe dream is to make enough money through my books so that i can fish just because i want to and not because i have to pay bills. certainly the books have been successful. i hope to make a lot of money with them. that's -- brian: how many of these are out there in circulation right now, your books? linda: well, i think the last report i heard was that we were

up to 185000 in print. how many are circulating, i don't know. brian: and the timetable on your next book when do you have to have that done? linda: well, i started this tour in new york one nothing and i signed a contract to extend my deadline so apparently identify already -- i've already missed a deadline. haven't even written one word yet. i would like to think i could get a major portion of that done this winter. brian: how did you write it? where did you write it? linda: i like write long handed in notebook and make all my corrections on the paper. you know, arrows and things crossed out and pages stuck in and when i get a section or a chapter to a point where i think i'm not going to be able to make it any better i take the time to type it in to the computer. i'm very slow typing. that's the last edit that i do of something before i send it to my editor. send it to the he had tornado and within two or three days i get a call saying this is good that's not. more of this less of that. keep going don't go back and rewrite, just keep going and i

basically got through both of my books with that process. brian: so where did you write it? linda: i wrote "the lobster chronicles," i wrote most of it on isle au haut. i wrote a little bit in portland, maine, had an apartment in portland for a little while and wrote there. brian: by the way you're saying isle au haut and for those who have never seen it it's isle au haut. linda: that's right. brian: how do you get from what looks like anything like isle au haut to isle au haut? linda: it means island of height, french. it's the first island that you see from offshore because it is so high. many people pronounce it isle au haut and i've heard so many different pronounces. -- pronunciations. the year round population says isle au haut. brian: wt's it like year around living on an island? if. s i like it but it's not for everyone. it's a tough existence. you need to be self-sufficient

self-reliant. you need to not have a problem spending a lot of time alone. brian: and do you have any time ever being alone? linda: i enjoy my time alone. i also learn through trying to write on the island my first winter thinking, oh, this will be great, no distraction. just write write write. i'll get this whole book done. i have learned you need communication with people, or i do anyway. brian: when you live on the island, what about simple thing like newspapers? do you get any, do you watch television? can you hear radio from where you are? linda: we can hear radio. we have no local newspaper. there's no newspaper delivery service to the island. some people now have satellite dishes so they -- they're able to see television, you know, whenever they want and see whatever they want. most people have computers and there are phone lines so you can have internet access. i think the things that are tough -- we have the technological advances. things that are tough, there are no service people on the island so if you need a plumber or electrician you're on your

own or try to get one from the mainland to come out. it's tough. brian: so your boat is how long again? how big is it? linda: my lobster boat is 35 feet long. brian: the name? linda: duffy x duffy is the manufacturer of the boat and the name of the boat is the matty bell named after my grandmother. brian: your grandmother on what side and what was her full anymore? linda: my dad's mother who is mattie bell robinson. >> and there is a robinson name on the island, isn't there somewhere? linda: yes, there is. a robinson's point, which is where the lighthouse is. brian: so when you go out fishing, do you have a cell phone now? linda: i do not. i'm a dinosaur. i'm probably one of the only people on the planet who does not have a cell phone but i have a v.h.f. radio. brian: can you talk to your mother whatever -- ifrl i can. i have a hand held v.h.f. at home that if my mom needs to get in touch with my dad or i she can call us on the radio. brian: how long do you think your father will continue being your sternman? linda: i hope a long time.

he's 72 now but he's in great shape. loves working every day. he can work me under the table so i'm sure he'll be going strong for some time. brian: when deretire from his other job at bath iron works? linda: at the age of 65 normal retirement job. brian: the book is "the lobster chronicles." our guest is linda greenlaw, and the book looks like this. this picture on the cover was taken where? linda: that was taken aboard my boat, right in front of the lighthouse fishing off isle au haut.

subjected to an unreasonable search through the use of a general warrant issued by the administration of king george the 3rd. wilkes fought back against that in court eventually winning his freedom. the charges were dropped in response to something called the northward number 45 and it 45 and it was on that basis they arrested and searched and for anything that might serve as evidenced in his alleged crime. but because john wilkes

became such a folk hero across britain the number 45 became synonymous with john wilkes and the cause of freedom. this in turn, led to some of the language we now have in the 4th amendment requiring that the government get a search warrant when it wants to search and that the state get provisions with particularity. stating particularity. stating what is going after with a sufficient degree of particularity. >> and you are you today under the obama administration certainly not starting with president obama the nsa violates the right to privacy. >> yes. right now the nsa collects cell phone data regarding your cell phone usage.

it no space you have cold who has called you when the call was made and how long it lasted. i no that i no that for today, yesterday, the day before, and every day going back five years. from that they can discern an enormous amount of information. graduate researchers using their own miles have concluded using data like that they can figure out your political affiliation. the religious views your health conditions and an enormous amount of information. yet all of this data is collected through the use of something that can at least be analogized to a general warrant. that is not right. makes the american people understandably and justifiably uncomfortable. >> you can watch this and other programs online.

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