Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Weekend farmers market aims to help local shellfishermen

December 10, 2020 — A first-of-its-kind shellfish farmers market promises to get oysters from Wellfleet Bay to the dinner plate in record time.

Shellfishermen will be able to sell their oysters to customers on Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. beginning this weekend at the Wellfleet Marina. The market will run through May 1.

The initiative came after a monthlong effort led by the town’s shellfish constable, Nancy Civetta, with assistance from the Wellfleet Shellfishermen’s Association and Holbrook Oyster. Civetta was able to get approvals from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Division of Marine Fisheries to hold the event.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishermen’s Alliance to Launch Program to Promote Dogfish, Skate

May 16, 2017 — The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance is launching a new program Memorial Day weekend to create demand for “under-loved” fish species caught in area waters.

Pier to Plate will see small-boat fishermen give free skate and dogfish throughout the summer to 20 restaurants, a fish market and catering company on the Lower Cape to serve to customers.

“This program is actually giving the fish to the restaurants for the summer to experiment with, play with, and serve to their clients,” said Nancy Civetta, the communications director for the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. “And that way we are hoping to just make them very popular because people will be more familiar with them if they find them on restaurant menus and in fish markets.”

The skate and dogfish, or Cape shark, are caught in abundance off Cape Cod and are mostly shipped overseas to be used in restaurants in Europe and Asia.

The goal of Pier to Plate is to make a consistent supply of these species available locally in an effort to support sustainable fishing on Cape Cod and familiarize residents, visitors and chefs with the fish swimming off the shore.

“We just aren’t landing as much cod and other groundfish as we used to here on Cape Cod,” Civetta said. “It’s a changing ecosystem out there. It’s still full of fish. It’s just different fish than we are used to eating.”

Civetta said the program is receiving support from the restaurant community as the Alliance has met with many around the Lower Cape.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: State Announces Over $105,000 for Seafood Marketing Projects

March 22, 2017 — The state has announced $105,500 in grants to seven marketing campaigns designed to increase awareness and demand for Massachusetts seafood products.

The grants were awarded through the Division of Marine Fisheries’ (DMF) Seafood Marketing Pilot Grant Program.

Seven organizations were awarded funding for projects to stimulate demand though education, promotion, and other strategies.

These organizations have experience and significant ties to the commercial fishing and seafood industries and communities, focus on different species and span geographical areas throughout the state.

Funding for this pilot grant program comes from commercial fishing and dealer permits through the Seafood Marketing Program.

The state launched the Massachusetts Seafood Marketing Program in August 2016 to increase awareness and demand for local seafood products. The program recently announced a partnership with the Massachusetts Farm to School Project to promote the consumption of local seafood in schools.

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance has received $15,000 for two boat-to-plate recipe demonstration videos on dogfish and skate for social media.

“We got a grant that is specific to the fisheries that are very important to a group of Cape Cod fisherman and that is skate and dogfish,” said Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance spokeswoman Nancy Civetta.

Wellfleet SPAT got more than $20,000 for a pilot educational and tasting event in Boston to reacquire and increase market share for Wellfleet oysters and clams.

“Cape Cod Commercial Fisherman’s Alliance and Wellfleet SPAT do tremendous work to promote more sustainable fisheries and aquaculture management, scientific research, and community education,” said State Senator Julian Cyr. “I am encouraged that they have been selected to receive grants from the Seafood Marketing Program. These grants will go a long way in helping to promote and encourage the consumption of Massachusetts seafood products.”

“Skate, dogfish, and Wellfleet shellfish are all essential to the outer and lower cape economy. Scores of families count on the income generated by the sale of these delicious and sustainable caught and harvested products,” said State Representative Sarah Peake. “These grants to the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and to Wellfleet SPAT to raise awareness, market share, and by extension incomes to our fishing families are important and welcome.”

Read the full story at Cape Cod