🚀 go-pugleaf

Next time you buy a $5/pound lobster on the side of the road or think
these people aren't worthy of a bail out, remember that these are some
of the conditions lobster fisherman face.  Granted this story is out
of the US but lobster fishing in Maine isn't much different than in
Nova Scotia.  It is dangerous, hard work.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/World/1126837.html

Calm 8-year-old hero saves grandfather’s life
By The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — When a lobster trap rope pulled Lester Drisko
Sr. into the chilly waters off Maine and then entangled him last
month, his eight-year-old grandson didn’t panic.

Mathew Drisko reached over and tied a life jacket around his barely
conscious grandfather and took control of the boat.

Mathew was honoured in the state house on Thursday by Gov. John
Baldacci and the legislature for his heroic efforts.

He took all the fuss in stride.

Asked what the governor said to him, Mathew chose his words: "That I
did a good job."

His actions late last month were far less restrained. Authorities say
he saved his grandfather’s life. Mathew, of Columbia Falls, was with
lobsterman Lester Drisko Sr. in late May when Drisko’s leg got tangled
in rope to a lobster trap he had just thrown overboard. The elder
Drisko kicked off his boots, freeing his leg from the rope. But he was
immobilized by the cold water and unable to climb back aboard.

His quick-thinking grandson reached overboard and tied a life jacket
to his grandfather to keep him afloat, and then took over the boat’s
controls.

"He kept circling me. He wouldn’t leave me until he could spot the
other boat," said Drisko, who recalls passing out in the cold water
and then coming to when the waves splashed his face.