To Make clear the following is only satire and I’ll take responsibility for people not from around the waterfront misunderstanding
I was wrong to assume that because I predominantly write our hyperlocal blog for our Cape Ann residents that people would understand how preposterous the notion that you could have time to move all the lobster gear even if they knew where the lobsters were released and to set it and for those lobsters which were probably miles away from that location would ever get caught.
I was obviously wrong and people did not understand with the outlandishness of it all that it was a joke.
It’s on me.
What I am happy for is that the releasing of the lobster story which would have been a simple story largely forgotten by now has gotten huge legs and all the positives of Buddhism are highlighted. For that I am grateful.
For those of you who would like to learn more about Chokhor Duchen click to find out.
You know the craziest part? So many people think I’m hatin on Buddhism, but I download a Buddhhism podcast from this guy that Lindsay Crouse recommended that I listen to- Lama Marut.
Check him out, the guy makes a lot of sense.
http://www.lamamarut.org/
also sign up for the upcoming Summer Retreat, here are our interviews talking about the upcoming 2011 Summer Retreat-
For More Info-
For more info-
http://www.thesummerretreat.com/
Receiving the coordinates of where the lobsters were released by Buddhist monks, the boys went out yesterday and hauled the lobster traps they set all over that ocean bottom and caught exactly 534 lobsters, the precise number the monks released.
We used the Kayalu saltwater safe RAM camera mount to secure the Kodak Zx3 Saltwater proof camera to the aft window of the wheelhouse to record this.
It’s A Tough Job But Somebody’s Gotta Feed The World
Good Morning Gloucester 
Not sure whether to rejoice or cry with this one, on the one hand, somebody’s gotta feed the world, the Degelyse guys deserve to make a living and lobsters are sooo yummy. On the other hand, it was a cool gestrue the monks made. Guess it is all part of the circle of life.
Jenn
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what goes around comes around, as jenn says. lobsters aren’t the brightest of creatures, so maybe next time send the money to some of the tibetan people being screwed into the ground by the government of china. freedom is as freedom does…
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How do you know if lobsters are not bright? They mate for life. And what’s the difference if they are bright. I know a lot of the dumbest people on earth. Trap them and eat them too?
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A lobster’s intellegence is equivalent to the intellegence of a grasshopper. Scientists have hypothesized that a lobster does not feel pain or fear. Lobsters do not mate for life. They mate each season with the larger females having the choice of the strongest males in a community. One male may mate with several females during a given season and female lobsters that are bearing eggs may shed their shell and abort the eggs if the opportunity arises to mate with a more “attractive” male lobster. It helps if your occupation is catching lobsters to know a little bit about them…there isn’t much to read though that aren’t scientific papers.
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Check out “The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean by Trevor Corson. I pretty good read basically says what you are saying with some added bizarre twists of behavior.
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Tuffy, Sean and Jim are great. If anyone was meant to recapture those released lobsters, it’s those guys. Chances are pretty good it was not the same 534 lobsters. If the monks do that again, they should mark them before they release them, so whoever catches them again will know and can decide whether to give them another chance or let the dinner table be their fate.
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what do you mean “mark” them? is that possible/legal? i was one of the organizers and would love to hear more about your suggestion!
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I agree with Jenn, I get the point but this was disturbing in a way rather than just ironic, one of the few articles on GMG that irked me. Maybe it was the celebratory attitude… one thing to do it, another thing to rejoice in it.
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Hope you don’t mind if my friends and I liberate a few lobsters from you traps Joey.
Next time you pull up a few empty ones, let’s have a good chuckle together.
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What is scary is that people might think that they actually caught the same lobsters that were released into the enormous ocean.
Could people not to realize that they are joking around as if they really knew where they lobsters were released and had the time to move all that lobster gear in horrible weather there and to let the gear set long enough to catch them?
It’s a long day out on the ocean doing the same grueling repetitive tasks over and over. The boys are just having a little fun to, if anything- keep sane.
But people that aren’t from a fishing community probably don’t get that the chances of them catching those same lobsters are pretty slim.
It would be the same for me, I probably wouldn’t “get” any Farmer’s jokes.
Did ya hear the one about the John Deere tractor in the corn field?
Doesn’t play so well in G Town I suspect 🙂
Namaste!
My friends that practice Buddhism know that I have a great deal of respect for Bhuddist teachings and I credit one of the Buddist teachings for a huge part of the success of GMG.
“The most selfish thing one can do is to give” Taught to me by Barbara Koen which I didn’t understand when she first told me but had an incredible impact on my life once I began to practice it.
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I can’t believe that I believed they caught the same ones, clearly I should have known better from reading this blog and being educated about fishing/lobstering every day….and also watching them throw back more than half the lobsters they were catching for being too small. I appreciate that they need to have some fun out there and it really was pretty funny when you think about it.
Jenn
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They have to throw the small ones back; it’s a law. It’s not altruistic.
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Yes, I understand that they have to throw the small ones back per law, my point was that if they were the same exact lobsters they were catching, they would all be over the size limit since they were caught and therefore measured before. If you watch the video, you can see how many (most) he is throwing back.
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FYI – This story was on “the “Let It Rip” segment of Fox news this morning. Mixed feelings.
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Gotta say that I’m with the folks that just didn’t appreciate the mean-spiritedness of the article. I have a healthy sense of humor and I get it, really. The symbolism of the release seemed to be mocked. You’re better than this, Joey.
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Well I can see how some folks could take that away from the video but what saddens me most is that as a society that political correctness and corporate culture has made something lighthearted and funny into some political thing.
Are we crass at times down the docks, yep. It’s a commercial fishing dock where people are REAL. Thank Christ I don’t work in some stiff office where everyone is scared to tell a joke for fear of being fired and they can’t be genuine.
We’re not a bunch of suits that is all nice to everyone all day long but behind closed doors they backstab and prepare to fire you. If there’s a couple of guys that have a disagreement they get right in each other’s faces and let em know it and it gets resolved and if you have strong bonds on the waterfront you know they are genuine. I’ll take that over politically correct rhetoric all day long.
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OH PLEASE! In these times, let’s have a little fun! It’s a joke! I had to ask Joe and frankie if it was real. they said the crew were joking around. Working at a repetitive job you need to joke around to get thru the day. even Buddha would have gotten the joke! lighten up and enjoy the day!
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yep, i got the joke straight away. the guys amusing themselves having a bit of fun! i don’t blame them a bit.
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When Joey first told me of this freeing of the lobsters I laughed out loud. It sounded like the most ridiculous and at the same time hilarious thing I had ever heard of. From the little I know of the lobster biz (besides enjoying eating them) it seemed the equivalent of freeing the carrots at Whole Foods by purchasing them out of customer’s carts and putting the carrots back in the produce section. Lobsters are farmed and releasing them in Cape Ann waters they go right back to the deli in the pot. But then I can also see that as a religious ritual that frees the lobster even if for an hour it melds in with what Buddhism is all about. Acknowledging that their is suffering in the world.
I can see that people in the lobster biz could not see what the Buddhist priests did as anything more than the weirdest thing they had ever heard of in their life and that it should be made fun of. I would agree but it is so easy to slip into mockery of a religious ritual which may make a few people grumpy.
If during the Saint Peter’s Novella parade some people dressed up as Jesus showed up with signs saying “Eat Me I’m Jesus” and handing out white wafers of bread it is possible that a few people would not see the hilarity of making fun of a bizarre religious ritual. Like viewing the video, I might initially laugh but I would also feel a little uncomfortable. A true buddhist on the other hand might view this entire episode as an enlightening experience. We all could learn from them.
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i dont think it has people are complaining because they’re being politcially correct. i think they’re complaining because you seem to be revelling in ignorance and they want better for you.
the guys in this video are pretty much xenophobic losers.
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i would pay more for a lobster with a buddhist marking on it
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The boastful snickering over this childish act by these lobster guys makes this Joey from Gloucester appear to be a mindless moron. Wondering if he was a school yard bully back in the day…Lucky for him Buddhism is a kind and caring practice. Perhaps a teachable moment is at hand.
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OMG–Whom ever Anonymous is, you really should take this as it was intended. A joke, a REALLY funny joke. If you think Joey was ever a bully in his youth you have clearly never met him. If anything, class clown comes to mind when I think of Joey (no offense Joey, truly a compliment). I have also had a moment where I could have done without a picture on this blog and said so to Joey. He listened to me and without exchanging mean words (unlike Anonymous) we went about our day and have been friends ever since. Maybe you feel silly because you bought into this story, hook, line and sinker? Don’t be angry because you got duped! Laugh about it. Cycle of life and all. I thank Joey and the boys on the Degelyse for not just one day but many days of Gloucester excitement!
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Many people say they are joking when they do odd things…. but I think this joking was a way for the fishermen to not feel so bad at what they were doing…. I think this idicated some sort of awarness that the lobsters have feelings … and they do experience pain and fear …. that the Buddhist monks show ed empathy for these feelings and the fishermen had to use some sort of “grave humour” to attain homeostasis as they felt uncomfortable when they compared themsleves to the monks et el…. as a famous man once said… guilt is a mistaken attitude of mind….. sincere regret and vowing not to do it again and not doing it again works better….. seems like some of those fishermen are ready for a non killing career change…. its like the forestry business…. if you are going to take away jobs chopping down trees then may as well create jobs for people plating trees…. the fishermen can find new and more fulfilling jobs …. maybe even in the monastery !!!!!!
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the lobster experiences neither pain nor fear as a human would know or interpret it…the lobster is driven by 2 instincts, feeding and mating…every aspect of its behavior is geared towards these two instincts.
I don’t get what you mean by a non-killing career change…people need to eat and seafood is the last wild-caught protein. No hormones or animal abuse. Other than that, I think you are reading too deep into a joke, gill..
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GO DAD! To the most honest, hardworking, and caring person I know – . Not many people on this planet know the kind of hard work and sacrifice you have endured for the last 40 years to provide for your family and put two daughters through college. It is great that you can have some fun, we all know that you would never “go after” monks. As you said, they are some of the most peaceful and inspiring people.
You, Joe, and your crew are all advocates for protecting the marine ecosystem. Over the years supporting V-notch laws and trap regulations while actively protecting the lobster population by never keeping a short lobster, throwing back females that carry eggs, and even throwing back enormous males (how did they even get in the traps?!) because you know this male will be able to procreate 100 times more offspring than a normal sized one. If there were more people like you, Commercial Lobstering would be a completely different business. You can’t judge a book by a cover or a man by a single youtube video.
People just don’t get how ridiculous your humor is! Even if you did catch the 534 lobsters (you clearly didn’t) that would save another 534 lobsters you would have caught somewhere else! The Monks understood this and said that they never meant to disrupt your workmanship by their actions. You did not disrupt their belief by doing your job. In the end, its all in a day’s work and worship 🙂
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Elyse, that was a wonderful reply! Thanks for enlightening all of us!
Jenn
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