Massachusetts Shellfish Initiative checks all the boxes
Michael DeVasto is an oyster grower, wild harvester, and Wellfleet selectman, so when he was appointed to the Massachusetts Shellfish Initiative he had clear ideas about what he wanted to see happen.
After more than two years, the lengthy report was completed and DeVasto, backdropped by a photo of his hometown, was on a press webinar with nearly 100 people for the release.
He went through his objectives one by one.
Did MSI preserve home rule, allowing each town to manage its shellfish resource? Check.
Of the top 29 fishing communities in the Northeast facing gentrification stress, Chatham is ranked third.
Top on the list was Barnegat Light, New Jersey. Chatham was right behind Montauk, New York. All three are ports with fishing ties that reach back to the 1700s, but they are also blessed with natural amenities, have a lot of wealth and are hot vacation spots.
Economic and access pressures (which have only grown as COVID has increased housing prices in Chatham to a median of $1.2 million) can be exacerbated by increasing regulations and environmental changes.
The country's connection to science and fishermen started on Cape Cod
We are celebrating our 30th birthday, so we thought it a good time to recognize the anniversary of an organization also dedicated to improving the fisheries through science. First called the Fish Commission, they are quite a bit older than us: NOAA Fisheries. The governmental organization and parent of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center got its start 150 years ago, fittingly enough on fishy Cape Cod. Read more in this reporting from @NOAAFisheries, which in this form is an amalgam of two historic pieces:
On February 9, 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the law that created the Fish Commission. It was the nation’s first federal conservation and environmental research agency and began in a shed in Woods Hole.
The agency was devoted to the protection, study, management, and restoration of fish. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were trying to address a serious decline in marine fish catches.
If you talk to any fisherman on the Cape they can tell you all the owners of a fishing vessel, where it was built, who fished on it, if her name changed. The boats are windows into the history, present and future of the Cape’s fleets.
Take the F/V Mary Alice, bought in Gloucester by Sam Linnell, who sold her to Sam Fuller (a long-time crew man on Linnell’s uncle’s boat) when he bought a bigger boat, the Great Pumpkin, owned by Jan Margeson.
As our lead story delves into, Fuller, working with Nick Muto, then revamped the gillnet boat to go lobstering. And they added an engine from Mike Abdow’s charter boat, Magic, after he bought a new one. See photos of the partnership and the launching of the new Mary Alice here.
With your help, building a national model and call to action
By John Pappalardo
We’re throwing an early summer outdoor bash, July 1 on the grounds of our old captain’s house in Chatham, and I’m tempted to say the reason why is simply because – finally -- we can!
That’s part of it, but even more it’s because we want to celebrate the great haddock chowder we’ve been making for almost a year now, find a way to share it with you as well as the food banks and pantries who do such great work in our communities.
And gather your support to keep it going.
I could offer you all kinds of statistics to show how successful this program has been: Almost 300,000 pounds of haddock chowder distributed to food banks across New England, all the way down to Delaware and Washington DC. More than 200,000 pounds of haddock purchased. Scores of jobs in seafood processing and manufacturing supported. Almost a dozen local food pantries and kitchens as direct recipients to help friends and neighbors facing food insecurity.
Here’s another way to see it:
This effort is now being celebrated at the highest levels of our federal government, used as a national model and call to action.
On June 15, a delegation of ranking elected officials in Massachusetts came together to write a letter to the new Secretary of Agriculture in the Biden administration, Tom Vilsack. As head of the US Department of Agriculture, he is in charge of many things, including the large distribution effort run by USDA that is supposed to send American-made food across the country to schools, food banks, the military, and prisons.
We want fish, and independent, small-boat fishermen, to be included in that effort. We think the haddock chowder program proves that’s feasible.
As it turns out, so do United States Senators Ed Markey and Ellizabeth Warren, plus Massachusetts Congressmen and national leaders Katherine Clark, Jim McGovern, Steve Lynch, and Richard Neal. Our own Congressman, Bill Keating, galvanized and led the effort.
Here is their letter:
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
We applaud your leadership as the Administration confronts economic disruption related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this spirit, we are writing to underscore the critical need to engage the nation’s commercial fishing industry, particularly independent fishermen.
The non-profit Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance has created a successful initiative to harvest sustainable small haddock and manufacture frozen chowder for donation to food banks across New England and the mid-Atlantic. Since last year, the Alliance has been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to clarify eligibility for seafood products.
To date, small-boat family fleets have not been able to participate in USDA procurement programs. Haddock is a plentiful, wild-caught fish that can be landed by many small-boat fishermen in the Northeast. It does not necessarily produce uniform fillets, but is perfect for a chowder base—much like comparable sustainable species in other parts of the country.
This initiative thus features a sustainable new product that keeps family fishermen on the water and provides volumes of nutritious, affordable, ready-to-serve meals. Moreover, the Alliance initiative is a replicable model that would be adopted by other independent fleets across the country – from Alaska to Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Fishermen's Alliance has been working for months with USDA staff to address each of the procurement specifications and procedural requirements. However, USDA has historically struggled to recognize new seafood products as commodities for its food programs, making it a challenge for this effort to advance. Notably, the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report again recognized fish as an essential element of diet for all Americans and underscored its positive health effects, especially for pregnant women and young children.
For these reasons, we urge you to consider partnering with the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and other family fishing industry leaders. Specifically, we ask USDA to:
· Expedite the deployment of seafood chowder specifications within the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Food and Nutrition Service to include haddock chowder;
· Extend these specifications to include chowders using sustainable seafood products from other regions of the country; and
· Include sustainable seafood products from independent fishermen in USDA purchasing and distribution programs.
The long-term goal is to fully integrate fish and seafood purchases into USDA programs, comparable to successful programs for beef, pork and chicken. We look forward to working together to embrace the initiative of family fishermen to help address the urgent priority of food insecurity across the country.
Thank you for your attention to this matter…
That’s plain talk, and with their great support, we’ll keep on keeping on.
Now we need your support too. Please join us on July 1, buy a case of chowder – hell, order one whether you can make it on July 1 or not! -- and know that by doing so, you get some wonderful food as well as helping us move into year two.
Clickhere to sign up and help us. And remember you can still buy chowder if you can't make it on July 1.
The Fish Art Auction, Cods for the Cape, is back again this year thanks to our friends atCottagein S. Orleans. See the unique pieces created by 15 local artists in person at the store or view them onlinehere. Be ready to place your bids June 24-26 on Instagram @codsforthecape!
Come join our team as we participate in the iconic Falmouth Road Race as part of the Number for Non-profits Program. You can choose to either run the race course in Falmouth on August 15 or run/walk at your own pace in your neighborhood during August 7 to 14. We are asking each team member to raise $750. Not able to run? You can support our teamhere.Visit our websitefor more details.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 7! Hookers Ball XX, Let the Goods Tides Roll, is almost here and we have planned both virtual and in-person components to keep this 20-year tradition going. You can choose to celebrate at home, with some friends, or at the Captain Harding House. Reserve your tickets or package today by clicking here.
On the Water
Ever wonder how a boat, or a fish, got its name? Want the word on what people are catching --- or how to cook it?
Truly incredible story about a commercial fisherman diving for lobsters only to end up in the mouth of a humpback whale. He happily was mostly unhurt and has quite a tale to tell. We have heard about several fishermen who gave up diving for lobsters because of fears of the growing presence of white sharks. But Michael Packard has no plans of stopping. Watch him on Jimmy Kimmel above and notice how he supports local fishermen by a shoutout to his wholesaler, Wellflleet Shellfish Company,
On the Shore
This community thrives in large part because of a constellation of non-profit organizations and engaged businesses.
“Congress should know that the biggest threat to commercial fishing is environmental degradation caused by humans. Most of it comes from ground water pollution from what we carelessly put into the environment. All the other cumulative human impacts on the environment compound the problem. We need to protect the health of our coastal estuaries more than we currently are if we hope to have productive fisheries for future generations.”
--- Jake Angelo, commercial fisherman and shellfisherman
Every day is Ocean Day to commercial fishermen, who are inextricably tied to the sea. Sometimes regulators, and even the public, forget the immense knowledge and respect commercial fishermen have for the ocean. To remind them, and highlight how United States fishermen operate sustainable businesses that help feed the nation, Seafood Harvesters of America celebrated thevoicesof the fleet, many from the Cape, for World Ocean month.
We are grateful for all the support we receive from individuals and community organizations. Without it we would not be able to do the work we do on behalf of fish and fishermen. We wanted to thank the Cape Cod Foundation for choosing us and 21 other nonprofits across the Cape for funds to support our work.
If you plan on dining out in Wellfleet this summer (and who doesn’t) eight restaurants have partnered with the Massachusetts Oyster Project on an oyster recycling project. The empty shells become baby oyster habitat. Find out more, including the participating restaurants, here.
On the Hook
We do a lot of reading, searching through the wide world of fisheries, and often find intriguing pieces to share. In the old days, you might call this your clipping service.
Our CEO John Pappalardo was recently a featured guest on WMVY’s Cape Currents. Get an update on what the Fishermen’s Alliance is up to and what he sees for the future of the industryhere.
"We have a domestic seafood system which is second to none. Our fisher/producers are highly regulated. They provide work for hundreds of thousands of Americans and support generations of families who have helped anchor our coastal communities and beyond. Why would we want to put U.S. producers at a disadvantage to imported seafood producers, many of whom are gaming the system?" Read more about why this chef is supporting new legislation in Congress
Melissa Sanderson, our chief operating officer, has done a lot of work with electronic monitoring so small boat fishermen can better succeed on the water. In this podcast she and our partners in the effort talk about the progress with Duke Center on Law and Tech.
