Meet Jacob Knowles, a 5th-generation Maine lobsterman who is sharing his unique career with legions of online fans

Jacob Knowles is part of the fifth generation in his family to become a lobsterman.

It's common for many lobstermen to be from multigenerational lobstering families, meaning that their parent or elder family member was also in the lobstering trade.

Knowles went on his first lobstering expedition with his father at just 4 or 5 years old.

"I've done it since I was a kid," he said when we met in August. "I started going on my dad's boat, and my 5-year-old son just worked with us the day before yesterday for the first time."

Knowles learned many tricks of the trade from the lobstermen in his family.

Three generations of lobstermen in Knowles' family have fished in Winter Harbor, a small fishing village east of Bar Harbor. The generations before that were in a neighboring harbor.

"A lot of the things that I do on my boat are stuff that my grandfather learned how to do back then," he said. "In a way, a lot of the things that I do are probably an older way of doing things, but I have an accumulative knowledge from my grandfather, great-grandfather, and my father."

"All of that knowledge has been passed down onto my boat, along with the locations where we fish," he said. "A lot of the spots that my grandfather learned, I'm still fishing today. He always knew to get back there at a certain date, and then he'd tell my father to get back here at a certain date, and now my father told me to get back there at a certain date."

However, Knowles explained that a spot that was good one year may not be as good the next, or the year after that.

"We definitely don't have it down to a science by any means," he said.

Knowles said that his mom would also go out with him on his boat, as well as his sisters — Knowles is actually a twin, and while his twin sister isn't a lobster fisherman herself, she is married to one, he said.

Knowles believes his generational knowledge has given him a "different perspective" compared to someone who's newer, but that it's not considered better or worse to be a multigenerational lobsterman — just different.

He got his first skiff when he was around 13 years old, and he has been lobstering ever since.

At that time, Knowles said he had around 150 traps, and it was more of a learning experience than anything.

"I made a little bit of money also, but it was more for just the education," he said.

He said that when he turned 15 or 16, he got a bigger boat and started working with his own crew. As a high school senior, he upgraded to a bigger boat again.

"I've upgraded several times since then," he said. "I've been doing it forever."

Knowles said that working as a lobsterman may be harder than people think.

Among the profession's challenges, lobster licenses can be hard to come by in Maine. One way to procure one is to go through a student or apprenticeship program, which requires students to apply for a license before they turn 23 and to log at least 1,000 hours working alongside a sponsor who holds a lobster license.

Those older than 23 must join a waiting list for a license, but securing one can take years due to the state's limited entry system that restricts the number of fishermen who can hold commercial lobster licenses at any one time.

"Most captains, if not all of them, started on the back of somebody's boat somewhere," Knowles said. "There's an apprentice program, but it's not easy to get a license. It takes a long time. I've got friends that have been trying to get licenses for 10 years now."

Knowles added that the job is much more physical than one might think. Traps are heavy, and hauling them day in and day out can put stress on the body.

"It's brutal on the back, on the muscles, everything. It's hard work," he said. "The most dangerous part is getting wrapped up in that rope. That's how we lose the fishermen that we do."

However, despite the hard work, the career can be lucrative for some. Knowles said that "highliners," the top-producing lobstermen, can make around or over six figures a year.

But while the career can be lucrative for some lobstermen, the fishing season is at its peak for only six months out of the year. While it's possible to fish for lobster year-round, and some lobstermen do, the main season lasts from June until December.

Knowles grew his social media following largely by sharing videos of egg-laden female lobsters, which are illegal to catch and keep.

The New York Times reported that a video Knowles posted to TikTok in 2020 was one of his first to go viral. As of August 2024, it had roughly 6.2 million views.

In the 26-second clip, Knowles catches a female breeding lobster covered in eggs and explains that "like on a farm, you wouldn't want to kill your breeders."

Instead, he cuts a small notch in the lobster's tail before throwing it back into the ocean, a common practice with female breeding lobsters that has become mandated by law in the state. That way, any future lobstermen who catch a female lobster while she doesn't have any eggs will know that she's able to produce them.

Knowles called the rise in short-form content, like the videos he posts to Instagram and TikTok, a "pivotal moment."

"When the world transformed from long-form videos to short-form, now the farmers, fishermen, hunters, anybody can pull out their cell phone and film a 60-second, 30-second, 10-second clip and post it," he said.

Knowles' videos now frequently surpass 5 million views, and one video from 2023 has been viewed more than 57 million times. His success in catching viewers' attention has led to brand deals, which could mean even more income as a content creator.

Knowles said he and his team are still being choosey about who they work with.

"We are being pretty selective on the brand deals, making sure they're authentic to the page," he said.

In his videos, Knowles educates viewers on commonly asked questions about lobstering.

From explaining the telltale signs between male and female lobsters to showing how to remove barnacles from lobsters' shells, Knowles has created hundreds of videos showing the unique things he comes across as a lobsterman.

"At first, it was just a hobby and fun," Knowles said. "And then when I realized how much interest people had in it, I realized how much I enjoy teaching people about it."

Gaining followers is one thing, but Knowles said that gaining respect as a lobsterman — and keeping it — has always been a priority for him.

When asked if he was concerned that his reputation among his fellow lobstermen would change after he potentially became known around town as "the Instagram guy," Knowles said that did cross his mind.

"I was concerned about that because, like I said, [this industry is] so respect-driven. And I'd spent my whole life building that respect," he said. "I've been cautious to make sure the page is done in a way that is looked up to and respected and shines a positive light on the industry, and the fishermen, in particular, can respect it."

He hopes to pass his knowledge down to his own son, should he choose to also pursue lobstering.

Knowles said that while it would certainly be exciting for his son to represent the sixth generation of lobstermen in his family, it's certainly not a requirement.

"If he wants to do it, I'd definitely be happy to teach him. He'd be the sixth generation to do it," Knowles said. "But I'm not going to pressure him into doing it. It'll be cool, for sure, if he chooses to take that route."

For now, Knowles is happy to show his son the ropes by taking him out on his boat on the weekends, an adventure he said the 5-year-old has been asking for all summer.

"He loves to fish for anything," he said. "And the other day was the first day he's been out with me, and he'd been asking to go forever. We finally got to go, and he was obsessed with it."