June 16, 2016 — BOSTON — They dress much like their fathers and grandfathers before them, fish-stained slickers over well-worn jeans, thick gloves nicked by countless fillet knives.
And as the once-empty neighborhood around them closes in with new office towers and luxury apartments, the Seaport District’s fishmongers still make their living off the ocean.
Just often not the one that laps at the docks outside their doors.
After years of struggle in the face of a declining local fishery, the Fish Pier in Boston is again bursting with seafood businesses. But with New England fishing stocks tightly managed, the Fish Pier dealers are now more reliant on fishermen from distant oceans, their catch arriving by truck after being shipped through Logan Airport or the Conley Terminal.
“Just like a Ford has parts from different parts of the world, I think Boston is becoming this seaport hub, and that allows us to be very successful,” said Richard Stavis, chief executive of Stavis Seafoods, a Boston-based national seafood distributor with offices on Fish Pier.