The Maine lobster fisherman's daughter says she was “born into the profession.”
Sadie Samuels left California to go to college in California, but continued to fish during the summers to help pay for college. After graduating in 2013, she started fishing full time and hasn't looked back since.
Samuels, 32, is opening a permanent indoor restaurant called Must Be Nice Lobster in 2022, named after her boat, the F/V Must Be Nice.
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Previously, she sold lobster rolls at farmers markets, then at a food cart, then a food truck, and finally at a brick-and-mortar store in Belfast, Maine.
Samuels fishes off the coast of Maine, where he catches North Atlantic lobsters, which are different from the “spiny” and “rock” lobsters that live in the warmer southern Atlantic Ocean.
Sadie Samuels of Belfast, Maine, is the captain of her boat, the F/V Must Be Nice. She also owns a restaurant called Must Be Nice Lobster. (Hannah McGowan)
There's an easy way to tell the difference, Samuels told Fox News Digital: the claws.
“Our lobsters have the claws on them, and honestly, the best tasting meat in the lobster is the claws.”
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The cool waters off the coast of Maine and New England give the lobsters a sweeter taste, Samuels said.
“Our water is a lot colder. And I think whatever goes into the shell tastes sweeter the colder the water is, because the shell produces more glucose. It just tastes sweeter. So it's delicious.”
“I'm always on the boat.”
By the time Samuels turned 16 — the age when most girls her age get their driver's licenses — she already had her own boat and had been a licensed commercial lobster fisherman for two years.
“I really think that if it's in a shell or if the water is cold, it produces more glucose so it tastes sweeter. It just tastes sweeter. So it's delicious,” Samuels told Fox News Digital about lobster. (Hannah McGowan)
“I always go on boats [my father] “That's what I thought as a kid and it just naturally became something I wanted to do,” she said.
Samuels earned his student license at just 7 years old, got his commercial license at 14 and then went out on his own.
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“My dad kicked me off the boat because the boat only holds 800 traps,” she said, “so as much as I want to fish, if I keep fishing on his boat he can't fish.”
“[My father] “Finally, he said, 'Okay, you're obviously interested in this. Go buy a boat,'” she recalled. “And so that's what happened.”
“A good, strong industry.”
Although lobsters are not considered endangered, there are ongoing concerns about overfishing and the decline of the species' population.
As a result, Maine's lobster fishery is “one of the most sustainable industries, fisheries, on the planet,” Samuels said.
“We release many more lobsters in a day than we can store.”
“We release many more lobsters than we can keep in a day,” she said. “It's highly regulated.”
Every lobster she catches must be measured using a gauge, and any lobsters smaller than the gauge must be released, as well as any larger than the gauge.
In Maine, every lobster caught must be measured with the tool Samuels holds (top left), and any that are too small or too big must be released back into the sea. (Hannah McGowan)
The sex of the lobster is also important, especially if eggs are found in female lobsters.
“If the lobster is female and carrying eggs and does not have a slit in the second fin from the right of the tail, the slit must be made so that the next person who catches it will know that it is a 'proven fertile' lobster and should return, even if there are no eggs in its belly,” Samuels said.
“So even if you catch a lobster, if it's a female lobster that doesn't have eggs but has a severed fin, you can't legally keep that lobster,” she continued.
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Keeping these breeding lobsters in the water and out of kitchens will help ensure lobster populations survive into the future.
“That's why we've had such a good, strong industry for so many years,” she said.
“Lots of lobsters.”
When it comes to cooking and eating lobster, Samuels has his preferences.
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“My favorite way to eat lobster is a good old-fashioned lobster roll. It's got toasted, buttery bread, light mayonnaise and lots of lobster – I think it's just perfect,” she said.
She added, “That way I don't have to deal with the shells. You know, I deal with shells all day and it hurts.”
Samuels got his first lobster fishing license when he was seven years old and has held a commercial license since he was 14. (Hannah McGowan)
While some may be averse to the idea of boiling lobsters alive or killing them alive, Samuels' experience tells him that lobsters don't feel pain the way humans do.
“Their brains are the size of a pea,” she says, “and if they felt pain like humans do, you wouldn't think they would eat each other. But they do.”
She said lobsters don't discriminate when it comes to food.
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“A lot of times when you set a trap you have to get them out quickly, especially if you have a big female with a hard shell and she’s laying eggs, because she’ll eat all the prey. [and] She’s chasing everybody,” she said.
Lobsters have the ability to break off and regrow limbs, Samuels said, something he often sees when pulling lobsters from traps. (Hannah McGowan)
Lobsters also have the ability to break off and regrow their limbs.
“It's one of the coolest things ever,” she said. “You catch a lobster with these big, complete claws, and then it regrows these little jelly claws. It's so fascinating.”
But what Samuels likes most about lobster fishing is the freedom it gives her.
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“I really love being my own boss and what I like about this industry is that you can work as hard as you want and you're rewarded for the effort you put in,” she said.
“So you can work all the time and give it your all, or you can work part-time and have fun.”
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“And you have the best office in the world.”
