Alice and Larry Hatch always bring a cooler filled with ice when they shop for seafood each week. They don’t go to a supermarket or even a seafood shop. This summer they’re getting their fish — whole, with eyes staring up — directly from the fishermen who caught it. Fishermen are getting in on the act, selling their fresh fish to people who pay in advance for a share of the catch.
The main purpose of such rule is to help fishermen earn a premium on their catch as they struggle with burdensome fishing regulations and declining fish populations. In return, shareholders are guaranteed fresh local fish and a chance to support their local fishermen. The idea is spreading. Shrimp fishermen in Stonington and on Mount Desert Island tried it last winter, and a mussel harvester in Brunswick and a lobsterman in Falmouth are now giving it a try. In Massachusetts, 750 shareholders signed up this spring to buy fish in advance from Gloucester fishermen.
It is said if the programs go like this then shareholders pay a set amount in advance for seafood shares that they pick up at designated drop-off points — churches, schools, farmer’s markets and the like. The total amount being sold through the community supported fishery programs is a pittance compared to the more than 8 billion pounds of fish caught by U.S. fishing boats each year.
