Local Color

When I refer to shrimp trays, I'm simply talking about fish trays with holes drilled in all four corners so that they will hold shrimp and drain water, therefore yielding the weight of the shrimp alone (although we wish we could get paid for the weight of the water too!). The trays that we use are owned by the company dock where we sell our shrimp. They are so to speak "communal trays." We trade full trays for empty trays at the end of each day. Although the trays are generally black, green or some shade of blue, the colors range the entire spectrum of the rainbow. One day we came upon a blinding chartreuse tray that Cap described as a "designer shrimp tray." I thought that was cute. It brightened up my dull, cloudy, grey day. Unfortunately we haven't seen it since. Probably some old man's using it for a foot rest in front of his recliner at home. This week we got a pink tray that I don't think should be used for shrimp, because this particular shade of magenta clashed horribly with the bright red shrimp. I know. . . I'm such a girl!

Where I'm going with this is that the trays have passed through many hands by the time they make it aboard Cap's boat. I am often intrigued by the tags that I find on them for different kinds of fish from exotic places like Alaska and Canada (exotic to a Mainer, that is). Sometimes I can tell by their smell alone what they were used for. . . yuck! Some of them appear to have been holding dirt and lead me to wonder what was being grown in them . . . Other paper tags read boat names and captains. Today I came across the boat name "Miss Conception." At first I thought "How clever!" Then I got to thinking about it and wondered what the captain meant after all. Is it named after a woman who conceived a lot. . . or was the captain somehow misconceived his ideas of having his own boat?

This funny name got me thinking today about local color and how it is represented by boat names. There are some clever ones out there ("Miss Behavin'," "Master Baiter," "Somethin' Else"), some lovely names ("Red Lady," "Breezy Dawn," "Hallelujah"), some very macho ones ("Silver Bullet," "Full Tilt," "The Chain,") and some proud names ("Liberty," "Tradition," "R 2 Sons") as well as countless boats named after women and children. These boats are the pride and joy of the captains of our humble fishing community. The boats are pampered and loved almost as much as their owner's wives and children are, sometimes more. Therefore, their names represent a form of identity for the captains. When I hear a boat hailed on the VHF radio I often contemplate the meaning of the name to the captain. What would I name a boat if I had one . . . ? I'm kinda partial to "Miss Fit."

New Harbor, Maine might not be rich in ethnic diversity, but we have plenty of local color. Looking out from the shore towards the open ocean at any time of year one can't help but notice the neon ornaments dotting the water's surface like a brightly decorated Christmas tree. To tourists the buoys just make a pretty picture, but I look at them and associate the different colored bands with specific fishermen. Those buoys represent the hard-working folks of our community and many different life stories. They represent struggle and friendship. They represent the community that is my home. They mark something deeper than what just appears at the surface.