see him on tv
Arizona's lobsterman
By Levi J. Long
LLONG@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.20.2007
It's not often a desert dweller from Tucson finds a lobster-fishing career in the Atlantic.
Yet Adam Cournoyer, 30, a Cholla High School grad, has found his calling aboard the Timothy Michael, an 80-foot New England lobster-fishing boat featured on the Discovery Channel series "Lobster Wars."
The show — which airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays — follows the crews of five competing lobster-fishing boats as they battle the elements to capture marine crustaceans.
Filmed over the course of 23 days, the series documents the crews as they fish off the Georges Bank near the northeastern coast of Cape Cod.
The show's concept is similar to that of another Discovery reality show, "Deadliest Catch," which followed fishing boats capturing crabs in the Bering Sea.
"Lobster Wars" wraps up its six-episode run next Thursday.
Cournoyer, who left Tucson in 2002 to pursue a music career in New York, has been featured on several of the episodes.
We caught up with Cournoyer, a family man with a fiancee, Bobbilee, and two children — Cameron, 4, and Arizona, 2 — to ask a few questions.
So how does a guy from Tucson end up working as a crewman on a lobster boat?
"I wanted to get out of Tucson. I'm a musician and wanted to go to New York. When you're in Arizona, it's easier to go to L.A., but that's too easy. So with $200 in my pocket I left, but it didn't work out. I had family in Massachusetts and went to live with them for a while. That's when I got a job at a gas station.
I noticed a lot of guys bringing back lobster traps and gear in the back of their trucks. I'd ask what they were doing and they said, 'You want to know? Come out with us.' So I did. And I liked it a lot. I also couldn't believe the money you could make.
"It's funny, though. I feel like I'm pretty famous in the local community. Most people call me Arizona and say, 'What the heck are you doing here?'
"But I can say I am a true lobsterman. You don't earn that after making a trip or two. There's a rite of passage before becoming a lobsterman. I can honestly say I'm probably the only lobsterman from Arizona. You don't find too many on the North Atlantic."
What are your thoughts so far about the show?
"The show obviously is a reality-based program, documenting commercial fishing boats with the backdrop being fishing. It's also about personal struggles of crew members and showing what they go through.
"They filmed in December. They probably picked that month because they wanted the absolute worst weather to make for the best television. We're a good ways out, though, since starting. It's been so many months and all of a sudden it hits TV.
"My friends and family get to see it at the same time I do. Things could have been embarrassing, but so far it's good.
It was a wild time there for 23 days. We had divers in the water, helicopters in the air, land-based teams — everywhere there were cameras. It was a big production."
How did you get on the show?
"They approached me when they were screen-testing boats. I saw these two producers who asked if they could come aboard and they started asking a few questions about our boat, the crew and myself.
"I told them we have a reputation for being pirates. I said, 'We are where bad fishermen go to get punished.' That sealed the deal. They used what I said for the show. Our crew seemed rough around the edges and that's what they were looking for."
It's a very guy-oriented show, like "The Perfect Storm" meets "Jackass." Is that an apt description?
"It's a little more tasteful. It's not like the 'Real World' or something from the networks where you vote people off. It's reality, but it's a look at people's lives that America wouldn't normally know about."
The work is risky considering you're hundreds of miles out in the open sea and the tumultuous weather conditions. Were there any times you were put in danger while filming?
"For the TV show, a lot gets blown out of proportion. What you see on the show is business as usual. I had my foot shattered and you see a lot of bad things.
"You tend to get hit around. There are doors that swing open. The injury rate is 100 percent. You get injured on every trip. I expect to come back with bruises and cuts."
You're out at sea for weeks at a time. So if you had to choose between a plate of green chile enchiladas or a lobster, what would you pick?
"I'd take the enchiladas for sure. I miss home, Tucson, the sunsets. I have to say the sunset is beautiful on the ocean but it doesn't match Tucson and seeing it set in the West."
Do you have any plans to move back to Tucson?
"Yeah, we plan to move this year. We're also planning to do a second season of 'Lobster Wars.' "
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