A younger John Our, in the background, with his father, Jack, right. Andy McGeoch, is on the left.
An e-blast earlier this month from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned about growing conflicts between lobstermen and draggers. The message came with a warning: It is unlawful to negligently and without authorization remove, damage, or tamper with fishing gear owned by another person.
In the early 1970s there was no such law, and when hundreds of lobster traps off Chatham were being destroyed by fishermen dragging for flounders, some lobstermen took matters into their own hands.
This is the story of a series of battles in “The Lobster Wars,” reported and produced by Angela McNerney of Lower Cape TV, told mostly through Captain John Our and edited for clarity and length.
Captain Raymond Duarte of Provincetown remembers the quandary clearly:
Lobstermen would set their gear within the state’s three-mile limit and steam home. Draggers would head there in the morning and stay right outside that three-mile mark, towing large nets through the water, catching flounder. As soon as the lobster guys went home and it got dark they would go inside, illegally.
“That is where all the flounders were. So, at nighttime in fog we would go in,” Duarte said.
When they dragged their nets through the water they pulled up and destroyed many of the traps and buoys set by the Chatham fleet.
Steve Nickerson, an 11th generation Cape Codder and Chatham Historical Society volunteer, remembers being down the shore during that period and seeing the late Jack Our, father of Captain John Our and a legendary fisherman.
“I could see him loading cement blocks and barbed wire onto his boat. And he would set that around his gear, so when the dagger came along, they would get his gear possibly, but they would tow up the barbed wire and cement blocks and raise hell with the nets,” Nickerson said.
John Our was young at the time, but remembers going with his parents to Sears and Roebuck and buying the materials.
“I thought we were going to raise cattle or chickens,” he said.
It became clear that wasn’t the case when he was fishing with his dad and saw him putting out roll after roll after roll of barbed wire.
“They all did it just to get rid of these guys and it worked,” Our said.
Most thought that Jack Our and other fishermen who took matters into their own hands were doing the right thing; their actions were justified.
“They were destroying his livelihood and taking the food off his table. Back then they did their own thing, they weren’t waiting for the government to help,” said John.
“I just think the tipping point was the amount of gear they started to lose. Their season was coming to an end because they didn’t have any traps to pull. My father figured he had lost 100 in a couple of weeks.”
John said the dragger that caused the most problems for the lobster fleet was from New Bedford, not from Provincetown. Her name was “The Lark.”
Jack Our was so angry that he pulled up next to the dragger and told the captain he was taking him in and called the Coast Guard, his son remembered.
When the captain started to steam away, the elder Our pulled in front of him to stop him and got rammed. Since it was a steel boat versus a wooden one, Jack’s vessel got the bulk of the damage.
“My dad was a very colorful character,” John said.
John explained his dad was shook up. And retaliated.
“He took a gun and shot up the sail. My father went ballistic on this thing. He blew out the windows. He blew the radar off the roof,” said John. “I was on the boat the previous day and my father left me home. I believe he left me home for this particular reason, because it was getting bad.”
The moment became part of the Cape’s fishing lore.
“There are all kinds of stories about Jackie Our coming up onto a dragger and taking his gun and pointing it at the wheelhouse and saying, ‘You stop right now and haul back, and if there are any of my traps in your net you are going to be whittling plugs for holes all the way back to New Bedford,’” Nickerson said with a laugh.
John said the captain of the dragger knew he was in the wrong:
“He rammed my father’s boat. He was trying to sink him. He was breaking the law.”
By that point, the word had gone out and federal marshals went out with Jack Our one very foggy night.
They came up on one of the draggers and arrested the captain, but he was not one of the main perpetrators.
“They bought the boat to Stage Harbor. It went to trial right away,” John said.
The Ours began getting death threats and had to shut the phone off. Federal marshals parked in their driveway at night until things died down.
Souza said the apprehended captain got off without a stiff penalty.
“He had eight kids. He lined them all up in the front and when the judge asked why he was there he pointed to them,” Souza said with a laugh.
John Our said people came up to him for years afterward and said, “Your father was crazy, but he had all the right reasons … I don’t think anyone had a problem with it. I know that sounds that crazy.”
Now lobstermen would go through legal channels, Our said. Back then there were no real legal avenues.
“You can’t do that stuff anymore,” he added.
Editor’s note: We have found Lower Cape TV to be a valuable partner over the years, boosting the reach of local non-profits, telling important stories of the Cape’s commercial fisheries. Sadly, the news stalwart closed earlier this month, lost to a changing media landscape. We hope talented journalists there can reincarnate; we’ll be rooting for them.