If you're not a lobsterman but would like to become one, don t quit your day job. Maine is populated by a puritan ethic breed of good, moral, common-sense people that are generally suspicious of anything beyond the border of New England. Sometimes, this can be misconstrued as brush or put-offish, but is not really. Winter storms known as Nor easters are the North-Eastern equivalent of hurricanes. These storms can wreak havoc on the coastal waters and lobster beds.
Many lobstermen take their traps out for the winter.
If you travel to Maine in winter, you will see these traps dot the landscape of many homes along the coast. During storms, there is a lot of motion under the surface of the water, even as far down as 50 - 100 feet. The water currents at the bottom can reflect the roughness visibly seen on the surface. This can cause a lot of debris to be caught in the traps. It can also cause the traps to wash ashore.