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Seafood Lovers and the Supply Chain

October 17, 2019October 19, 2021
by Colles Stowell

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Most American consumers don’t know where their seafood comes from. In fact, a recent report from the Food Marketing Institute suggests that less than 30% of domestic consumers consider themselves knowledgeable about the seafood they eat.

So why is that? And what can we do about it? What is the consumer’s role in the supply chain? It would be a fair assumption that the remaining 70% of those surveyed by FMI take a passive role. That is, they either rely on third-party information like eco-labels or they just don’t care. They surrender responsibility of the decision to someone else.

No wonder our markets are so jammed with cheap, unhealthy imports.

This topic was the crux of the fifth installment in the SlowFish webinar series, Slow Fish 201: Role of the Consumer, held on Sept. 23. To follow is a blog written by One Fish Foundation Intern Jennifer Halstead. In it, she captures some of the most salient points about how fishermen, fishmongers and others in the supply chain can help engage consumers in conversations about why they should care where, when, how and even by whom their seafood was harvested.

by Jennifer Halstead

Throughout the Slow Fish 201 Webinar series, expert panelists from different backgrounds, geographies and perspectives shared thoughts on how each link in the supply chain can help ensure the availability of responsibly harvested seafood. During the most recent webinar, Role of the Consumer, each panelist was thought-provoking, sharing their stories on how to engage consumers in the supply chain. Attendees left the discussion with a clear understanding of how consumers can become better informed (ASK QUESTIONS!!!) and assume a more active role in the supply chain.

On the panel were:

Patty Lovera, Food and Water Program Director, Food & Water Watch

Chef Evan Mallett, Chef, Co-owner, Black Trumpet

Capt. Tim Rider, New England Fishmongers

Charlie Lambert, Fisherman, Co-founder, Ocean2Table

Kirk Hardcastle, Premium Sales Accounts, Seafood Producers Cooperative

Colles Stowell, President, One Fish Foundation

Jessica Hathaway, Editor and Chief, National Fisherman, served as moderator

Each of them views the supply chain from a different perspective. But all of them agree that change within the supply chain is not only possible, but that it in many ways depends on consumers making smarter choices.

Fraud, mislabeling and a lack of transparency continue to cast a shadow over seafood sales in the U.S. It’s easy to see how consumers can feel helpless when it comes to fixing such issues. There are so many eco-labels providing conflicting guidelines and grocery store displays touting green-label “fresh, sustainably raised farmed salmon from Chile.”

As discussed during the webinar, well-informed seafood eaters have the power to pressure suppliers into knowing more about the products they are selling and to source from community-based fishermen who care about the resource.

Where to start

Panelists agreed that consumers should be asking restaurants and grocers a couple of questions just to get a part of the story of the seafood. It doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. You learn much just asking where, when and how it was harvested or grown. Even better if you can find out who harvested it. Is it local? Regional? Domestic? The U.S. has some of the best seafood safety and fisheries management policies in the world. If you can’t get domestic seafood, you’re better off choosing something else. Imported products carry a high risk of having been unsustainably farm raised or harvested.

“There is a lot of burden on the consumer,” said Patty Lovera. “We have to ask a lot of questions. The status quo in the supply chain isn’t good enough.” She and Colles Stowell both mentioned the influence consumers can have over retail seafood sourcing. If suppliers don’t know the answer to these questions, they will either feel compelled to learn, or responsible consumers will feel compelled to spend their money elsewhere.

What’s in season?

Chef Evan Mallett, Capt. Tim Rider and Charlie Lambert spoke about the importance of consumers better understanding seasonality. Just like when you go to the grocery store or market for vegetables and find different items available throughout the year, fish have their own seasonality. In New England, the height of the scallop season is in winter, while squid are generally available for a few weeks in the spring. Understanding what should be available during different times of the year will help consumers filter out which purveyors are supplying fresh, local fish and which are importing or using frozen, stored fish. “Being a chef is understanding sense of place, seasonal food, and the changes that the seasons bring,” said Mallet. That should also be true for consumers.

Eating seasonally enables consumers to enjoy fresh product throughout the year, experience cooking and preparing new species, support local fishermen, and promote healthy ecosystems by reducing fishing pressure on more popular species.

Location, location, location

Some tools, such as the Local Catch nation-wide Seafood Finder, can help seafood eaters find local, responsibly harvested fish, shellfish and seaweed. In a map or list view, you can search for purveyors by location and species.

All agreed that consumer education is critical. Once consumers have enough information, they’ll feel empowered to own those decisions and will likely make smarter decisions again in the future. “Instead of telling people what to buy, which is what eco-labels do, we need to educate and equip them with tools to make the decision on their own,” said Colles. Charlie added, “We’re providing them with information and letting them complete the thought process on their own, … and not force-feeding the consumer.”

Buying local benefits the consumer, economies, and even the ecosystem. Fewer food miles, fresher products, strengthening local economies by building relationships with fishermen, and supporting healthy ecosystems are all advantages that consumers can feel good about.

Charlie acknowledged that carbon footprint is a growing concern for his customers. The average distance seafood travels from boat to plate in the U.S. is an astounding 5,000 miles. “The supply chain was largely hidden, and when it was exposed, it was very nasty. The West Coast is famous for market squid and calamari, but the supply chain is tumultuous. [The squid] is landed, frozen, shipped overseas, thawed, processed, refrozen, shipped back, thawed, then distributed to local businesses and consumers. The amount of food miles is not right,”he said.

Quality is everything

Distance traveled can also (but not always) affect freshness. A fresher product tastes better and has a better shelf life. Rider said both his restaurant and retail customers note the long shelf life of his product because his crew properly bleeds and brines the fish on board the vessel at the time of catch, ensuring the fish is as fresh as possible for as long as possible. “Shelf life is huge. If something comes up and you can’t cook it when planned, it’s still good four days later.”

Chef Evan agreed: “ It was really with the first fish I got from Tim that I saw a marked difference between everything that I was getting from the Gulf of Maine before that.”

Product quality is integral to attracting and keeping customers. Kirk Hardcastle drove this point home, drawing on his decades of experience as fisherman, chef, distributor and now marketer with Seafood Producers Cooperative. “It starts with the fishermen, not the eco-labels, … making sure the quality of the product really comes through. … If it gets to someone’s house and the fish is poorly handled… You can put millions into messaging and you’ve burned it all away with the first bite of fish. Go for quality first and everything after that is easy,” he said.

Know your fisherman!

Charlie and Capt. Tim both sell directly to consumers: Charlie providing product from the network of fish harvesters he sources from in Monterey Bay up to San Francisco to his community supported fishery (CSF) customers, and Capt. Tim from the two boats he and his crew operate out of Maine and Mass. via drop-off points and farmer’s markets. When fishermen come off their boats into the community to sell their fish and meet customers, they’re building relationships that help support a stronger local economy.

These relationships build trust and help harvesters and consumers alike have open discussions about the industry, fishing methods, problems and challenges that fishermen have.

In the end, failure to know the story of seafood surrenders consumer decisions to other elements in the supply chain, which is often driven by industrial players with only profit in mind. Complacency in the supply chain will only ensure that consumers receive sub-par products, and the supply chain grows more opaque, rather than transparent. Lack of communication and interest can lead to what started this conversation last year, intentional mislabeling to turn a buck.

Smarter, responsible consumers and the relationships they forge with fishermen and fishmongers will help shift supply chains away from industrial-driven structures and toward a supply chain rooted in trust and knowledge.

In short, the role of the consumer is to ask questions and make responsible decisions. However, fishermen, chefs, retailers, distributors, educators, advocates and others in and around the supply chain should help consumers get smarter. That means telling the story of the seafood they’re selling.

Not sure where to start? Seafood eaters should ask the questions mentioned above. Check out the 7 C’s of Sustainable Seafood. If you can, buy local. If you can’t buy local, buy US caught and processed.

Fishermen, chefs and retailers should get to know their customers and tell them more about the seafood they’re selling them.

A supply chain built on trust is the best path forward.

Resources

7 C’s of Sustainable Seafood

Local Catch Core Values: Another reference point for how to think about the seafood supply chain.

Slow Fish Values: More values regarding seafood’s journey from boat to plate.

Eating with the Ecosystem, The 5 Anchors: A New England-focused view of values to consider when choosing seafood.

To view a recording of the webinar, follow this link.

Top photo: Boat to consumer…literally. Opening day for the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market in San Diego. Credit: Eric Buchanan

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Getting to KNOW FISH in School

December 20, 2018October 19, 2021
by Colles Stowell

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Students wrapped around the table, close, so they could get a good look as Capt. Tim Rider deftly worked the knife through the 15-pound pollock his crew had landed the day before. Neatly separating flesh from bone, he explained that filleting a fish is a matter of taking your time to be safe, but also to extract as much of the delicate meat as possible.

It’s a process he’s done many more times than he can remember. It is now automatic. For most of the middle school students at Harpswell Coastal Academy, this was a first. They asked questions about how the fish was caught, how it was bled and iced to keep it so fresh it almost looked like it could swim off the table.

They learned about the long days, the process of filleting a couple thousand pounds of fish before delivery to restaurants, stores and directly to consumers. They got an inside look at the life of a fish harvester.

This was the mission of the KNOW FISH Lunch^® hosted at the school Dec. 11. We wanted students and their families to meet fishermen from their communities and learn how and why they harvest the species they do.

The gym was set up with tables framing a large rectangle with displays featuring clam rakes, lobster traps and some of the heavy steel used for scallop dredges. Students drifted from table to table with a broader perspective of the effort, process and forethought that goes into producing the seafood they eat.

They learned from Mason Warren how to put those wide rubber bands on lobster claws, occasionally getting their hands on a lobster, its claws and the bands. They learned what it’s like to bait and set several hundred traps a day, and what it’s like to get started in the business. Mason’s father is a lobsterman who travels offshore. This time of year, he and other fishermen often have to stay in port because the weather is just too dangerous (read: 20-foot seas).

Wendell Cressey discussed the backbreaking toil of bending over and digging clams and oysters out of the mud. He does mostly wild harvest, and therefore, the clam rake becomes an extension of his arms. He talked about the challenges a frozen mud flat can present in winter.

Students learned how a 2000-pound scallop dredge works from Terrance Kenney. A fisherman for decades, Kenney explained the constant maintenance and plenty of work necessary to get scallops out of the shells and into market shape.

I had set up a table with live green crabs, some gill net, trawl net and a turtle excluder device. Several students wanted to adopt the green crabs as pets…or feed them to their dogs. Funny how live organisms with a hint of creepiness draw students close.

While eating chowder, students learned about the relationship they have to the seafood they eat. Photo: Micah Depper

The best part was the ambient buzz as students visited each harvester, shuttling in and out of the gym in three groups, absorbing the stories. At each station, students heard from small-scale local fish harvesters about how choosing locally sourced seafood affects them.

As if to illustrate the point, school chef Nicole Walker made a fabulous fish chowder using the fresh pollock provided by Capt. Tim Rider. Not too heavy, with a good balance of potatoes and seasoning, the chowder let the fish do the talking. And everyone praised the result.

While they finished off first or second helpings of the chowder, I rounded out the message with a quick discussion of the global seafood dynamic, illustrating why choosing local, regional and even domestic seafood is better for fish harvesters, the resource, the local economy and consumer health.

This was the first KNOW FISH event to bring fishermen, their gear and some of their product into a school to engage students, their parents and staff in conversations about how and why their choices matter.

By all accounts, the conversations and the food resonated, with some students saying they still have the 7 Cs of Sustainability stuck to their refrigerators at home after my visit in November.

That’s how I know the message is sinking in. So we’ll keep having these types of conversations in classrooms, or gyms or cafeterias, with students, their families, fishermen and teachers. And we’ll keep shifting the import dynamic away from imports and toward local or domestic seafood purchases.

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The Story of Seafood

May 25, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

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There’s a fair amount of planning that goes into these KNOW FISH dinners. Working with fishermen and oystermen to provide product. Coordinating dates, menus, sales operations, space, staffing etc. with chefs. Logistics.

Despite all of this planning, sometimes things change last minute and you have to adapt. It’s an almost everyday occurrence in the restaurant industry, particularly when you strive to be farm- or boat-to-table.

And so I found myself shucking a few dozen oysters at Tinos Greek Kitchen less than an hour before guests were to arrive last night. As often happens, Mother Nature dictated a deadline change when it dumped heavy rain on Great Bay on the Piscataqua River over the weekend, forcing the state of New Hampshire to close the bay to shellfish harvesting the day before the event.

We scrambled to get some Gulf of Maine oysters, and processed them just in time for dinner. It became a great talking point about eating with the ecosystem (ie, adapting to what’s available and what Mother Nature allows). Fishing is no exception. Capt. Tim Rider of New England Fishmongers, who provided the fish for the dinner, will tell you change is a constant. He could find pollock in the same spot three days in a row in 300 feet of water 60 miles offshore. But on the fourth day, the wind is cranking at 30 knots with eight-foot swells and his boat, the F/V Finlander, stays docked. On the fifth day, the fish have moved out.

Snow Island Oysters, seeded in Quahog Bay off Harpswell, Maine to help clean the bay. Photo credit: Ed Marshall

Seafood stories

At the dinner, we discussed the importance of eating what’s locally available, abundant and in season. For example, squid are cruising in numbers in the Northeast Atlantic. Chef Mark Segal and his team prepared wood grilled squid (from the F/V Rimrack out of Rye, N.H.) with roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers, crispy smashed chickpeas, olives, pepperoncino, feta, egg breadcrumbs and green crab aqua pazzo. Fabulous. The plates went back to the kitchen scraped clean.

Stuffed local squid that didn’t last long in anyone’s dish. Photo credit: Mike McGrail

The menu itself testified to the narrative of eating what’s local and fresh. The fourth course was listed as “Local Whitefish al Forno” because Chef Mark prepared the menu not knowing which groundfish Capt. Tim would bring in that day. The pollock, which was fired to the perfect temperature, texture and taste, was served with finnan haddie (cold smoked Finlander haddock) risotto, English peas, fiddlehead ferns, and hen of the woods mushrooms. Stellar.

Fresh pollock al forno landed aboard the F/V Finlander. Photo credit: Mike McGrail

We discussed how every dish has a story, just as every piece of seafood we purchase has a story. The story tells where, when, how and by whom it was harvested. The question is whether we can get that story before we buy; whether we can believe that story; and what that story actually is. Because U.S. seafood consumption is so disproportionately skewed toward cheap imports (more than 90% of the total seafood consumed domestically), finding the truth behind the seafood requires vigilance from consumers. They have the right to find out these stories so they know what they’re eating.

Capt. Tim rider displays a heavy jig and the type of fly used to catch groundfish, like the pollock on the menu. Photo credit: Ed Marshall

The Snow Island Oysters I helped shuck were from Quahog Bay in Harpswell. The Quahog Bay Conservancy seeded the oysters for aquaculture a few years back in an effort to help clean the bay. As filter feeders, oysters remove some of the excess particulate matter like plankton and nitrogen that could choke the bay with harmful algae if left unchecked.

Another course weaving in the local seafood narrative with a Greek twist featured Dolmades, grape leaves stuffed with Maine cultured mussels, golden raisins, red onion and served with saffron avgolemono (a Greek sauce featuring egg yolk, lemon and broth). Again, excellent Mediterranean flavors complementing Gulf of Maine seafood.

Rethinking seafood purchases

On the theme of adaptation, I urged attendees to re-think how they approach seafood purchases by taking a more active role in discovering the story behind the seafood. As with previous KNOW FISH dinners, we printed some sustainable seafood principles, called the 7 C’s of Sustainable Seafood, on the back of the menu. I encouraged them to take those concepts with them the next time they go to a seafood counter or a restaurant. Buying local is like making a covenant with local fishermen: “I trust you to provide good, sustainably harvested seafood. You trust me to pay a fair price.”

Capping the evening with a mission to spread the word over an inventive, and very satisfying dessert. Photo credit: Mike McGrail

Doing so likely supports fishermen like Capt. Tim Rider, or oystermen like Steve Weglarz of Cedar Point Shellfish and Brian Gennaco of Virgin Oyster, Co., who were both on hand to discuss local oyster aquaculture.

I asked everyone at the table to channel the energy from the event into conversations they have in their communities. Changing a broad national dynamic such as how we buy seafood in the U.S. happens at a grassroots level by spreading the message as often, as loudly, and as passionately as we can.

Top Photo: Reviewing the 7 C’s of Sustainability over dessert — Swedish Fish ice cream, lingonberry glaze, madeleine, almond brittle and blueberry cream legere. . Credit: Mike McGrail

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KNOW FISH: Know your fishermen and make a difference

May 11, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

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Relating sustainable seafood concepts is not always a linear conversation. Sure, you can cover the essentials: Buy local; buy abundant; avoid harmful harvest methods; be aware of any regulatory compliance issues. But getting the message to sink in involves an emotional trigger from the consumer. They have to care about it.

So I told the crowd at the KNOW FISH dinner at Franklin Oyster House in Portsmouth, NH Tuesday night that they might approach their next seafood purchase the same way they do when buying eggs or produce at a farmer’s market. That direct-from-the-producer purchase almost instantly resolves many of the trust issues that arise with buying seafood at a store or restaurant.

Seafood consumers have the right to ask the same questions standing at a seafood counter or sitting in front of a menu that they would have buying ground beef from the farmer. Where does it come from? How was it harvested? When was it harvested? If it was farmed, what was it fed?

Franklin Oyster House Chef/Owner Matt Louis telling the tale of the cod. photo credit: Stephen Martin.

One conversation at a time

It was anything but a quiet dinner. It was an engaging conversation and everyone was involved. The food curious. The fishermen. The locals looking for an interesting evening discussion and dinner. The oystermen. The foodies. The activists.

At the outset, I invited everyone into the conversation by asking them to either announce why they’d attended the KNOW FISH dinner or to mention a key factor in their seafood buying decisions.

From there, the conversation took off, and we covered topics such as sustainable seafood definitions, the shockingly high proportion of imported seafood consumed in the U.S., industrial scale fishing impacts on global and domestic markets, climate change, what to look for in local seafood and how to support local fishermen.

Capt. Tim Rider and the fishing gear responsible for the evening’s tasty meal. Photo credit: Kate Masury, Eating with the Ecosystem

Fish tales

People were able to ask Capt. Tim Rider about how and why he fishes with rod and reel for ground fish. They wanted to know where they could get his fish, which was brilliantly prepared by Chefs Matt Louis and Matt Decker. Salt Cod Brandade with a killer ramp pesto and Roasted Cod that was swimming about five hours before it arrived on our plates. And what a treat it is was to taste the spring bounty of fresh fiddleheads, asparagus and ramps!

Got fresh? How about swimming in 100 feet of cold North Atlantic water 5 hours before appearing as roasted cod in this photo? Photo credit: Kate Masury

Capt. Tim suggested attendees patronize restaurants like Franklin Oyster House Black Trumpet and 7^th Settlement in Seacoast N.H., and When Pigs Fly Pizzeria in Kittery, Me. (as well as other area restaurants) that buy fish from New England Fishmongers, the company he and business partner Amanda Parks operate. He also mentioned that they have started a local community supported fishery, which like a CSA, allows people to buy shares of the upcoming catch every week during a season. This model replicates the farmer’s market buying experience.

Attendees asked oysterman Tim Henry of Bay Point Oyster Company about the Franklin Oyster, which was served at the beginning of the meal, and which Tim grows expressly for Chef Matt Louis at Franklin Oyster House. They talked about some aquaculture details such as the process of nurturing the spat that grows into adult oysters with oysterman Brian Gennaco of Virgin Oyster Co. This conversation was set to the backdrop of an otherworldly Asian-inspired dish featuring grilled squid served over squid ink ramen cooked in a green crab stock. That stock fed the conversation about why green crabs do so much ecological harm and the ways of trying to popularize their use in cooking.

REALLY tempted to ask for seconds! photo credit: Kate Masury

As everyone tucked into a chocolate-coma-inducing dessert called “Phish food” (a “fudgy” cookie topped with chocolate ice cream, caramel and a torched marshmallow), we talked about how individually and together we can make a difference. Individually, attendees can refer to seven sustainable seafood principles printed on the back of the evening’s menu when considering seafood. Together, we all need to spread the message. When, where, how, and by whom seafood is harvested matters. It matters, locally to our diets, our conscience, the fishermen in our communities, the communities themselves, and the seafood resource. It also has global significance.

The next KNOW FISH dinner at Tinos Greek Kitchen on May 23 will continue this conversation.

The more we have these conversations, the more we shift the current domestic dynamic.

Here’s how to get your tickets and get in on the discussion.

Top photo credit: Stephen Martin

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One Fish Foundation 2017

January 8, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

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Happy New Year from One Fish Foundation!

2016 was a year of continued growth, broadened horizons, hands-on experiences, shared stories and several firsts. One Fish remains committed to educating students, parents and communities about why they should care where their seafood comes from, how it was caught and by whom.

Here are a few of the highlights from the past year, including some important firsts that set a precedent for spreading the sustainable seafood message in communities.

The first sustainable seafood dinner was staged at Rosemont Market in Portland in June, bringing interested residents to the historic bakery to have a frank, thoughtful discussion about myriad factors affecting seafood choices.
The KNOW FISH dinners hosted at When Pigs Fly in Kittery, Me. and Black Trumpet in Portsmouth, NH. extended the discussion of the June event to include fishermen, chefs and fishmongers talking about different links in the seafood supply chain. Attendees learned about one fisherman’s unfailing drive to catch groundfish such as haddock and pollock by hand, on rod and reel, up to 80 miles offshore to reduce bycatch and preserve the species.
One Fish Foundation expanded its educational reach into New Hampshire schools.
One Fish Foundation has been featured in the media:
One Fish Foundation helped plan and attended Slow Fish 2016 in New Orleans, an international event aimed at sharing fisheries stories from around the world and addressing some of the challenges to fishermen and seafood sustainability.

We have set some ambitious goals for 2017.

We will hire a social media communications coordinator to expand One Fish Foundation’s presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
We will extend the website to include more content for students.
We will grow our footprint in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
We will host more KNOW FISH dinners along the coast, inviting more fishermen and chefs to share stories about seafood sustainability and offer tips for consumers.
We will launch a newsletter that brings the latest news and events regarding sustainable seafood and what’s going on at One Fish Foundation.
Hats and T-shirts sporting the One Fish logo will be available online, proceeds directed toward the foundation.
One Fish will attend key conferences focused on the front edge of seafood sustainability issues, including climate change impacts, policy changes, new science, community involvement, etc.

It’s going to be an exciting year. Through the blog, the KNOW FISH dinners and in the classroom, we’ve found one inescapable truth: change happens one conversation at a time. The more people we can reach with the message about learning where their seafood comes from, the more we can improve the resource, and the lives of the fishermen who depend on it.

Come join us!

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Day in the Life of a New England Groundfish…

September 1, 2016October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

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As the last sprays of daylight faded to black, I stepped off the M/V Finlander in Eliot, Maine and tried to get grounded. I was tired. Damn tired. And a bit sore. We’d left the dock at 1 a.m., traveled four hours to the fishing grounds 65 miles out, fished hard for 9 hours with rod and reel and chugged back to port, docking at about 8:30 p.m.

This wasn’t recreational fishing. To get comfortable, I dangled a leg over the gunwale of the 36-foot commercial fishing boat and rested the heavy-duty rod on my leg while jigging a 20-ounce shiny lure and three flies just a foot off the bottom, 400 feet down. When a fish hit, I’d have to crank it all the way up with an industrial-strength reel and hope the 10-foot blue sharks circling the boat wouldn’t steal the fish. Hoist the fish in, measure it after removing the hook, toss it in the tub. Do it again.

Get two fish and you’re likely to be winding 25 lbs or so up 400 feet. POW! A shark hits near the boat and starts smoking line off the reel. The telltale snap two minutes later signals the end of the fight, and you reel up nothing. Time to re-rig. Crank up a couple hundred pounds of fish or so in a few hours, and you’re going to feel it. At least I did. I managed to get past the queasiness and avoid any embarrassment on deck. Any concept of a toilet was sacrificed for an extra bunk to “conserve” some energy on the long rides. The head was a 5-gallon bucket.

It was a long day.

So I had one question for Capt. Tim Rider before I trekked back to my car. “You do this every day?”

Narrow miss on a dogfish. Check out the video of five sharks circling the boat.

“Just about,” he said, as he cleaned the cabin for the next trip. He’d decided not to fish the next day. We’d brought back 800 lbs. of pollock and haddock, and he would need to drive it to the auction in Portland. (He often sells his catch directly to chefs who share the same beliefs on protecting the resource.) He hadn’t seen much of his family in the past two weeks, having slept in his own bed only two nights in 14 days. The rest of the time he was on the boat.

Paying the price

Fighting to stay awake on I-95 on the way home, I thought about that commitment. Fishing courses through Rider’s veins. It would have to. Otherwise, it sure would be a hell of a lot of work for not a lot of reward. This is particularly true because Rider is part of the Common Pool, a fisheries policy that often forces fishermen like Rider to fish way out because they didn’t have the capital, timing, luck or patience to get the permit to fish the Catch Share sectors. Catch shares are another fisheries policy that operates like a cap-and- trade quota system, often favoring those with the most capital, which can mean access to more desirable fishing grounds.

Currently, the outer edge of where Common Pool fishermen are allowed to fish fluctuates seasonally from 18 to 80 miles out. The difference means a couple of hours of travel and probably $300 or so in fuel, tackle and ice.

But the difference runs deeper than that.

When the Maine Department of Marine Resources distributed NOAA funds to offset losses from the groundfish (read cod) disaster relief last year, the money went to fishermen with quota who had the largest landings of groundfish. Those in the common pool were not invited to the table, and therefore, did not receive any disaster relief.

Many ironies exist in fisheries management. And this is one of the starkest examples. Those most hurt by the reduced fishing income were overlooked when it came time to provide financial support. Those like Rider who are so passionate about protecting the fishery that they jig fish in up to 500 feet of water to reduce bycatch seemingly face steeper hurdles than larger scale trawl fishermen, whose bycatch is much more significant.

Sector inequality

It is easy to say this is purely a situation of the haves and have-nots. But fisheries management is much more complex than that. Current New England groundfish regulations were initially established in 2010 on the principal that fishermen would more equitably manage and effectively safeguard the resource by creating a free-market environment. The total allowable catch of groundfish such as cod, haddock, Pollock, flounder and other species was divided and allocated to groups of fishermen in sectors, or harvesting cooperatives, based on who had the largest landings between 1995-2005. Fishermen purchased permits that allowed them to fish for certain species in certain areas within the sector during certain seasons. Under this Catch Share system, they are allowed to continue catching fish during the season until they reach the quota limit for each species.

The Finlander’s “purr”…

Unfortunately the Catch Share model overlooks a fundamental truth about fisheries economics: If financial resources determines access, then those with the most financial resources will have the most access. And so, an inequitable system was born and small-scale fishermen like Rider are squeezed … hard. Large-scale operators with the resources are encouraged by the very nature of the “get big or get out” system to grow and gobble up more quota, potentially leading to the type of abuses that led to the arrest of the largest distributor in New England last February. Carlos Rafael’s arrest underscores another truth about the current system: the bigger players don’t necessarily think in terms of good stewardship.

Ocean classroom

Which brings me back to the reason I wanted to go out with Tim for what was pre-ordained to be a very full day. He’d tried to convince me soon after we passed the Isles of Shoals on the way out under a half moon sky. “Colles. I’m not kidding. Get some sleep. It’s a long @#$%&*! day. You’re going to need it.”

The Finlander heads home. Arrived at dock at 8:30 p.m.

I wanted a glimpse, however brief, of what it’s like to be a New England groundfish fisherman, passionate about the work and the resource, and riding the anxiety of an ever-changing fishery with continually tightening restrictions and razor-thin margins. Debt. Changing ecosystems, but slow-to-change consumer palettes. Perpetually bone tired, fueled on adrenaline and Monster drinks (not me) and taking in what the ocean has to offer: whether it be a full hold to bring back to the dock, un-forecasted six-foot seas, a tuna crashing bait or a giant ocean sunfish lazily cruising the surface.

I’ll think of that experience every time I stand in front of a group of people in a classroom or a restaurant to discuss what sustainable seafood means.

Check out the latest news updates about Capt. Tim Rider and the M/V Finlander crew at New England Fishmonger’s Facebook page. There, you’ll see some of the Seacoast restaurants the Finlander supplies.

Top photo: Capt. Tim Rider tries … unsuccessfully … to finagle his gear back from a blue shark.