A fine over a kid on a lobster boat has fishing families speaking out
House Minority leader says case against him is political weaponization. Local fishermen say it points to a disconnect with a centuries-old way of life.
Jason Joyce, an eighth-generation lobsterman from Swan’s Island , fishing with his grandson, Elias, the family’s 10th-generation lobsterman. “It is within our culture to go with our family members and friends of family to learn the industry,” he says. Photo courtesy of Jason Joyce.
March 31, 2026
By Jessica Hardy
How young is too young to work on a lobster boat? The issue is lighting up the Peninsula after Minority House Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham was charged with violating labor laws by hiring a 14-year-old to work on his lobster boat in 2024. He is facing thousands of dollars in fines for inadequate record keeping while he employed a minor in a "hazardous occupation.”
The House Minority leader, who fishes out of Winter Harbor and employs the teenager to haul traps, bait traps, and band lobster, has been fined $3,500 – $2,668 for violation of records and $800 for pay statement violations.
“Not only are they attacking Billy Bob, but now they have 4,000 licensed lobstermen to contend with.”
“The government has been weaponized against me,” Faulkingham wrote on his Facebook page. “The Maine Lobster Industry has been regulated for over 150 years. There are over 5,000 license holders. I am the ONE PERSON in that history that has been targeted with a violation for taking a 14 year old boy. This is an attack on our Lobster Industry and Heritage. This is lawfare. They picked the wrong guy! I won’t back down!”
To those on the Peninsula, the issue doesn’t make sense to their way of life. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association agreed, calling it a “disconnect between longstanding traditions and a misapplication of policies that undermines the realities of fishing life” in a statement on the group’s Facebook page. The post drew more than 900 likes and nearly 200 comments. Local fishermen say the only way to keep the industry alive is by bringing the next generation out with them on the water.
"Legacy and sustainability of the Maine lobster industry is about generational fishing,” said Jennifer Larrabee, who is married to a fisherman and comes from a family of fishermen. “One generation protects the next.”
Dan Oliver, a fisherman from Stonington said: “You get a kid that wants to go out and work, and do a job and they [lawmakers] discourage you. They just encourage laziness.”
As for the political implications behind the fines, residents say that legislators are making a big mistake. “Not only are they attacking Billy Bob,” said Jason Joyce, board member of the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship, “but now they have 4,000 licensed lobstermen to contend with.”
Here’s what local fishermen say about the issue:
Stuart Bray
“At 12 I had my own boat and my own traps and 50 tags. I hauled traps all summer and that was how I began to build up my lobster business that I still run to this day. At 12, I hauled my own traps once a week and went sternman with whoever I could go with the other days. No one ever questioned if I could handle going on a boat at 12. I learned a lot and earned money. I was proud of being able to buy my own stuff. I learned different ways of fishing and a lot of safety measures. The only way kids learn lobstering is by going in the stern. They gotta just get out there and do it, it’s not something they can learn on land.”
- Stuart Bray, a fifth-generation fisherman from Stonington, has taken his son Tyson fishing since he was an infant.
Sarah Heanssler
“It’s an absolute privilege for kids to be raised in a family that can provide a responsible, money earning, work ethic-teaching job for them. We are raising future adults, not children, and studies show that kids who are given a responsible part in a family business go on to be much more successful and capable adults, far and above the rest of the population, leaving a legacy for generations. Surely the Maine government wants to endorse the raising of hardworking, high tax-paying citizens for the next generation. This fight is such a shortsighted way to micromanage Maine.”
-Sarah Heanssler of Deer Isle, married to a lobsterman
Logan Leach
“I have fished since I was 9. It was a great experience growing up learning how to run a business and make money. The state lets you have a lobster license starting when you are 8 and gives you the chance to work. Then why are we getting mad at a kid who wants to work and the guy giving him a chance? Most kids that age don’t want to work. So why are we frowning upon kids that work?”
- Logan Leach, a fisherman from Brooksville, has been fishing since he was 9 years old. Photo Courtesy of Logan Leach
Melanie Bray
“I know a lot of middle school aged kids who run their own lobster boats in the summer. I also know a lot who go [as] sternmen to make some money for their future. They jump on a boat for the summer and build up their savings account. Should this only be available to those whose families already fish? I find that unfair. I know plenty of kids who love to lobster but their families aren’t in the business so they haul with non-family members.”
- Melanie Bray, local school teacher in Deer Isle and member of a lobster family. Photo courtesy of Melanie Bray.
Scott Keenan
“Covid hurt the work force in a big way and to take away the chance to teach young people about work ethic and earning your own way is a travesty and putting that much more strain on an already fragile work force. Going to work isn't only about the money. It's also about self worth and a person earning the right to be proud of themselves for putting in a hard day’s work.”
- Scott Keenan, fisherman from Blue Hill (back) captaining his boat F/V Dear Abbie with his son Jacob banding lobsters. Photo Courtesy of Scott Keenan.
“I think I think the governor needs to get involved and reach out to the commissioner at the Department of Labor and say, ‘Hey, let's back up and let work with the legislature to clean up the language so that no one can be targeted by this,’ whether it's political or not, because it is within our culture to go with our family members and friends of family to learn the industry.”
–Jason Joyce, board member of the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship and eighth generation fisherman from Swan’s Island with his grandchildren, Elias and Daisy. Photo courtesy of Jason Joyce.
Tyson Bray
“I am excited to go to haul with my dad this summer and take the lobsters out of the traps. I like baiting needles. I put six or seven pogies on the needles. I like to take naps on the way home.”
- Tyson Bray, 5, of Stonington holds up a lobster on his father’s boat F/V Melanie Rose Photo Courtesy of Melanie Bray.
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–This piece was produced through the training and financial support of Journalism New England’s Career Lab. The reporter, Jessica Hardy, is one of the organization’s Community Reporting Fellows.
