Justin & Travis Maderia: Two Brothers vs. the Seafood Mafia | Ep 1318
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What led Justin and Travis to start Lobster Boys after their family fishery collapsed?
Welcome to Corozant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive podcast. Do you work in emerging tech, working on something innovative, maybe an entrepreneur? Apply to be a guest at www.corozant.com forward slash brand. Welcome to the Digital Executive. Today's guest is Justin and Travis Madera. Justin and Travis Madera are fourth generation lobstermen and the co-founders of Lobster Boys, a seafood company working to transform how lobster gets from ocean to the consumer. Raised in Connecticut and growing up working the waters of Long Island Sound, the brothers saw firsthand the decline of their family's fishery and the challenges facing independent fishermen. They founded Lobster Boys in 2016 with a mission to build a more sustainable, transparent, and equitable seafood supply chain.
By working directly with licensed commercial lobstermen and eliminating layers of middlemen, Lobster Boys focuses on fair compensation for lobstermen, full traceability and responsibility harvested premium hard shell lobster. Well, good afternoon, Justin and Travis. Welcome to the show. Been boring, Brian. Nice to be on here. Thanks for having us on. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Guys really do. I don't typically have two guests, so this is fun, dynamic, and we'll just jump right into this. I know you guys are hailing out of Huntington, New York. I'm in Kansas City, so I appreciate you all making the time today. Justin, if we could start with you, you're a fourth generation lobsterman and entrepreneurs who grew up working the waters of Long Island Sound.
And then you watched nearly all of the local lobster fisheries, including your own families, collapse over about 25 years due to insufficient regulation, pesticide use, unsustainable practice, et cetera, et cetera. What was it like to witness your family's fishery decline firsthand? And how did that loss turn into the decision to found Locks Your Boys in 2016, rather than walk away from the industry entirely?
You know, it was, as you can imagine, it was devastating on the family.
How did moving to Grand Manan, Canada change the quality of their lobster catch?
It really broke us apart as finances crumbled. Our family crumbled, went through some really hard times, divorces. tough adolescent period of time for all of us. And me and Travis just stopped together through it. And we started marching up through the Northeast and fishing with other fishermen and making friends at the time because we were just talented fishermen. We had been doing it since we were eight years old. And when you work the deck of a boat, you can basically go on anyone's boat and make a name for yourself. So that's what we did. And we eventually got our talents to a little island called Grand Manan in Canada. And we noticed that as soon as we got across the border, the regulations were different.
The quality of lobsters were different. And we started bringing these lobsters across the border to our existing customer base that we had in Connecticut to start recruiting. And it just spiraled from there. We started buying lobsters directly from fishermen. And we grew so fast, so big that we started buying lobsters from who we didn't know at the time, but were other businesses in Canada because we just didn't have the infrastructure. I mean, we didn't have two nickels to rub together at the time. And we started buying lobsters from businesses who at the time, like I said, we didn't know, but we call them the mafia now. And the reason we call them that is because They control the fishery. They say, you know, we stay in Canada and you guys stay down in the U.S.
and we sell you the lobsters. And the whole Maine lobster fishery has been branded over a long period of time. But all the live trade lobsters that come down into the U.S., they primarily come from Canada because their regulations are to target the hard shell lobsters. And this is something that me and Travis are extremely passionate about to re-regulate the lobster fishery in America. because they're targeting a soft shell species. And that basically goes into processors to pull the meat out. And me and Travis just basically went through a war with them, which ended in us getting put up into a subchapter five bankruptcy just two years ago.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What led Justin and Travis to start Lobster Boys after their family fishery collapsed?
0:08–2:07
2
How did moving to Grand Manan, Canada change the quality of their lobster catch?
2:07–4:15
3
Why do the brothers call the wholesale networks the “seafood mafia” and how did it affect their growth?
4:15–7:51
4
What pressures and crises (boat fire, bank squeezes, bankruptcy) did Lobster Boys face and how did they survive?
7:51–10:49
5
How did Lobster Boys build a 100 % traceability system for every lobster they sell?
10:49–12:59
6
Why is individual grading of each fisherman’s catch critical for fairness and sustainability?
12:59–13:37
7
What is the brothers’ vision for the future of the lobster industry and the broader seafood supply chain?
13:37–14:04
8
How can consumers help shift the food system back to direct‑to‑farmer/fisherman buying?
14:04–14:14
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Digital Executive
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