Imposter Lobster

The phenomenon has been around for a long time. Marketers and even restaurateurs have been known to try to pass off something as Maine lobster when it really isn't. (Outside of Maine, of course - any in-state eatery that tried such chicanery probably wouldn't last long ).
Sometimes the deception is bizarre. I've heard stories of some restaurants that actually list "main lobster" (no "e") on their menus, as if people will recognize the sound of the phrase and not realize that, if it sounds appealing to them, it is because they want lobster from Maine.
But the issue goes beyond that. Sometimes there is actual Homarus americanus that is purported to be from Maine but isn't; and then there's meat that's purported to be Homarus americanus, but isn't.
The issue of Chile-bred "langostino lobster" has been around for years. Maine's $313 million Homarus americanus-catching industry has been fairly vocal in its criticism of the misleading appellation, as has Sen. Olympia Snowe.
And then this summer, another high-profile example of false labeling arose. The famous Zabar's deli in New York City has been exposed for doing pretty much the same thing, but not with langostino crustaceans. They were using Louisiana crayfish, not lobster, for a dish they made, packaged and sold as "lobster salad."
That is, until the media found out. A Times-Picayune reporter vacationing in Manhattan from New Orleans noticed and blogged about it. That attracted the attention of the Bangor Daily News, a newspaper well acquainted with Maine's signature seafood industry, which wrote an editorial about the discovery. Soon enough, the New York Times did a piece, and now Zabar's seems to have reconsidered its ill-conceived (and even more badly justified) marketing scheme. It now calls the same dish "seafare salad."
Seafood often gets caught under one name and then marketed as another. Selling dogfish as "cape shark" or "rock salmon," is one less-known example. On the other hand, it seems to be common knowledge that canned herring are called sardines and that cooked squid is served as calamari.
But putting "lobster" on any food that its maker knows doesn't contain any goes beyond marketing. It's not even a red herring. It's deliberate misrepresentation. And even that is often known by another name.

More Kayak Deaths

This is turning out to be a bad summer for kayakers in Hancock County. While no doubt thousands have enjoyed safe and pleasant outings, at least three have died while out on the water.

Since the death of Eric Hogan on June 19 off Hancock Point in Frenchman Bay, two other kayakers have died during outings near Ellsworth. Steven Brooks, 43, died July 10 while kayaking between Hadley Point and Lamoine State Park, which are about a mile apart and separated by a fairly protected stretch of ocean. On Tuesday, Hong Sohn, 75, died while kayaking on Beech Hill Pond in Otis. None of the three were from Maine, though I am not sure that counts for much. There have been plenty people who grew up on ponds and the sea coast in the state who have died by drowning.

Hogan was young (28), from Webster, Mass., and athletic. But he made bad decisions about the style of boat he used, the conditions he went out in, and the clothing he wore. Paddling a sit-on-top model, which offers no cover from the chilly water, in wind gusts of 30 mph or more while wearing only shorts and a life preserver is a recipe for hypothermia. He must have realized he was being blown from shore and paddled against the wind, until the chill of being constantly splashed with water between 55 and 60 degrees sapped his strength and he slipped away.

But Hogan deserves credit for wearing a personal flotation device (PFD). Brooks and Sohn were not wearing life jackets. Brooks, from Stratham, N.H., had one with him in his kayak as he and a woman paddled separate kayaks back together from Hadley Point to Lamoine State Park on a Sunday afternoon. Brooks was in an enclosed-cockpit style of kayak but was not wearing the PFD. He overturned before his paddling companion noticed, hopped out of her kayak, and swam over to him in an unsuccessful attempt to flip his boat back over. Officials determined Hogan drowned, but Brooks may have suffered from some other medical condition that proved to be fatal.

Sohn was from Seoul, South Korea and was vacationing in Maine with his wife. He was not wearing a life preserver when his kayak overturned about 300 feet from shore of Beech Hill Pond. Sohn got out of the kayak and swam toward land, but sank about 30 feet away from solid ground. As with  Brooks' death, officials are not sure if Sohn drowned or if another medical condition killed him before he could reach shore.

All three of these deaths were preventable. Maine does not require kayakers to wear PFDs, but it could. Beyond that kind of regulation, education could help people learn about the hazards of hypothermia and stiff winds and about how preparation and communication can prevent problems. Anyone who is unsure of their abilities should be encouraged to go out with an experienced guide who will help keep them safe.

But with kayaking's growth in popularity, more deaths of paddlers has been inevitable. The image of kayaking peacefully over glassy water and along pristine shorelines has powerful allure, and for many inexperienced kayakers this image it may well overwhelm their perception of actual paddling conditions or of their abilities. If you're on vacation and heading back home tomorrow, you might well decide you're going out for a paddle regardless of whether you've got a PFD or there is a stiff breeze blowing.

As for having access to boats, I'm not sure what can be done. Kayakers don't have to be certified, the way scuba divers do, and if you have a few hundred dollars it is easy to buy one. Kayak rental outfits perhaps could be more aggressive about vetting customers for experience, but that's easier said than done. Many customers, outfitters will tell you, are not as honest about their skill levels as maybe they should be.

Could the kayak rental industry come up with uniform procedures for ensuring their customers' safety? Would the industry stomach having such standards imposed by the Legislature? If the answer to these questions is "no," it might not make good business sense for a rental firm in a competitive market to have higher self-imposed safety requirements than another rental firm a few hundred feet away.

Even with a paddling safety awareness campaign, Maine will always attract tourists from far away who may be here for only 48 hours or even less. Such a campaign might be helpful for some, but no doubt there are many who would miss it or - intent on realizing a long-held vacation goal - would brush it off in favor of going out.

For my money, I bet some sort of safety requirement ends up being proposed in the Legislature. But I don't know if a handful of preventable deaths is enough to generate broad public support for new regulatory mandates in Maine's tourist industry. With an economic impact that some estimate to be worth $15 billion, the industry is the biggest in the state.

Rebecca Returns

Rebecca is back. The 139-foot yacht, owned by seasonal Northeast Harbor resident Charles Butt, is pretty easy to recognize. It's the only boat I know of (outside the enormous cruise ships that anchor off Bar Harbor) that can be seen from offshore islands sticking up from behind Greening Island. I have no idea how tall its main mast is, but it juts up above the island's trees. Other technical details and measurements about the yacht can be found here.
Butt owns an oceanfront home in the village of Northeast Harbor on Manchester Drive, which overlooks Somes Sound. His crew moors the boat at the mouth of the sound off Connor Point, within view of Butt's home.
The town of Mount Desert has its fair share of wealthy summer residents, but Butt sticks out. He is one of five local billionaire property owners who routinely appear on Forbes Magazine's annual list of 400 richest Americans. According to the magazine's latest listing, Butt ranks 50th with an estimated net worth of $5.3 billion.
Such overt symbols of mega-wealth like Rebecca are rare for MDI, however. There's plenty of Lilly Pulitzer apparel and Rolex watches to be seen strolling Main Street in Northeast Harbor, but you rarely (if ever) see anything like a gold-plated Bentley parked outside Colonel's Deli. I do not know how much Rebecca cost, but am confident Butt shelled out an eight-figure sum for it.
Aside from Rebecca, the best local example of billionaire spending is Mitchell Rales' new home on Peabody Drive, on the eastern side of Northeast Harbor, on the site where Susan Mary Alsop used to own a much smaller home. According to a 2010 story posted by Fenceviewer.com, Rales' mansion cost approximately $30 million to build.
From what I hear, Rales' tastes are such that he requested (and paid for) brass firehose connections that were installed along the road in front of the property. Apparently, he didn't like the more traditional type of fireplugs that would have been installed instead.