At six years old, Peter Fairfield hopped aboard his first lobster boat with dad Rex Collamore. Years later, when it came time to decide on a profession the choice was easy.

Now 27, the Wiscasset resident makes a living like Collamore did back then, hauling lobster.

Fairfield started in the business for himself at 16. He used a small skiff to haul lobster traps by hand. He progressed from a 22-foot boat to a 28-foot boat to the boast he uses today: a 35-foot Osmond Beal he purchased in 2009.

That same year, he also applied for a federal permit to lobster beyond the 3-mile nautical zone, into federal waters.

Fairfield dropped about 100 traps in the water over the past year; last week he brought in about 75 of those traps because they aren't bringing in money.

The overabundance of lobsters have had a negative effect on the industry, with the prices so low it doesn’t pay lobstermen to go out.

As Fairfield pulled his traps from the boat with the hoist on the commercial pier, he said how great it was to have the crane do the pulling from the boat.

Before the 600-ton Billington Jib Crane was installed, the fishermen had to wait until high tide, and toss their wares onto the pier manually.

“With the high cost of fuel, and the low boat prices for the lobsters, it’s not worth going out,” Fairfield said. He plans to keep a few traps near shore during the winter months.

Fairfield said he also plans to do some scallop dragging, and some shrimping this winter. “I like to keep my boat warm during the winter,” he said. “I do not want my boat to be idle for any length of time.”

The catch limit for shrimp trawlers in the Gulf of Maine was reduced to 625 metric tons, nearly a quarter of what it was in 2012.

Fairfield said it will not take very long for the fishermen to reach the limit, perhaps just two trips. Fewer shrimp this season will no doubt increase the market price.

Fairfield is also an up-and-coming farrier. A farrier fits shoes on horses and other hooved animals. In the days of old, blacksmiths performed that work.

Fairfield said he plans take some time off from lobstering this spring to attend a Farrier School in Oklahoma.

Fairfield married his childhood sweetheart, Noelle Eckert, February 14, 2007. Eckert owns several horses, gives riding lessons and trains horses in Woolwich on the weekend when she is not working at Ames.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.