January 28, 2008
Market catch | A Port Clyde fishermen's co-op adopts a small-farm strategy
By Peter Smith
Fishermen face rising fuel costs, rising waterfront land values and increased maintenance costs. Coupled with regulatory reductions in the amount of fishing permitted, the environment is difficult for the state's fishing industry. But some fishermen are hoping a new way of selling seafood will mean making more money while selling fewer fish.
Community supported fisheries, or CSFs, are on the vanguard of a nationwide effort to connect consumers directly with the farmers and fishermen producing and catching the food. Two groups in Maine recently began separate direct marketing initiatives, offering consumers a chance to invest up front in a share that yields a weekly or monthly return in fresh seafood directly from boats.
In the midcoast, the Port Clyde Draggermen's Cooperative, a pool of 10 groundfishing boats, in late December began selling shares of its shrimp haul. That followed an October offering by Portland seafood company Ready Seafood for a lobster subscription called Catch a Piece of Maine.
In theory, CSFs and direct-marketed seafood boost the value of harvests for smaller commercial fishermen by selling market-rate seafood direct to consumers, bypassing the wholesaler and the processor. This helps guarantee a return on catches and also boosts the return ˆ in some cases significantly ˆ on a low-value product like shrimp.
At the same time, the CSF model addresses ethical questions associated with the depletion of the world's fisheries. That's because the current seafood market tends to reward high-volume and low-quality. "That economic model is devastating to the marine environment. It's bad for fleet diversity," said Rob Snyder, vice president for programming at the nonprofit Island Institute, which plans to provide assistance to the Port Clyde CSF. "We're trying to keep small boats viable while the stocks rebound."
Still, the CSF model is not without its challenges. Some note that cooking raw, unprocessed seafood requires a significant commitment on the part of consumers, many of whom are more comfortable with KFC's Fish Snackers and frozen, breaded jumbo shrimp. And with continued reports of overfishing, all fishermen face an uphill battle convincing federal regulators and the savviest of consumers that sea life is abundant and can be caught sustainably with groundfishing boats.
Local support
Nationwide, the CSF distribution model is still in its infancy. Last year saw the debut of two direct-marketing programs, run by nonprofits, in Alaska and North Carolina. While the price and volume of shares vary, the bottom line is consumers appear to be willing to pay more to know about their food's geographic origin ˆ whether Bordeaux, broccoli or Gulf of Maine seafood.
The model has been used successfully by small vegetable farmers and is known as community supported agriculture, or CSA. In Maine, CSA farms have grown from one in 1989 to 95 today, according to Melissa White, director of organic marketing with the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, a nonprofit organization in Unity.
Next year, MOFGA, Saco-based fishing advocacy group Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Maine Council of Churches plan to use part of a three-year Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education marketing grant to promote local foods. The groups said a separate effort is underway to organize a CSF in Southern Maine.
This past December, the Port Clyde Draggermen's Co-op began weekly shrimp distributions in Rockland. Organizers at the First Universalist Church there had successfully organized a vegetable CSA last year and began looking for other ways to support the local food community.
For $189, shareholders receive 10 pounds per week of fresh, head-on Maine shrimp. Over the 14-week season, shareholders pay $1.35 a pound. It's a guaranteed fresh catch and the economics are in shareholders' favor: Supermarkets and roadside stands sell shrimp for about $1.50 a pound; wholesalers pay fishermen about 50 cents a pound. "The fishermen get a higher price per pound and consumers are still getting a bargain," said Jennifer Plummer, an administrative coordinator with NAMA.
Libby said the co-op sold 40 shares to church members this year. While some shareholders expressed skepticism about the 10 pounds a week, others have split shares or frozen the shrimp. The arrangement also allows fishermen, traditionally price takers, to set prices and quality ˆ the ultimate goal of a CSF. "We want to control our product from the dock to the plate," said Kim Libby, manager of the Port Clyde co-op.
While fishermen say they would like to sell more directly to consumers, most of the catch in Port Clyde continues to a processor. Without a processing facility ˆ that would turn raw catch into filleted fish ˆ fishermen say they couldn't directly market groundfish like cod and pollack, the expected next step for CSFs. "It's a product that has no appeal to the public," said Craig Pendleton, a fisherman and former coordinating director with NAMA. "People just don't know how to cook fish."
There's also an established view that fishermen are overharvesting the oceans' fish stocks. Fishermen say lax regulations combined with a denial on their part led to the disappearance of some fish. But they are working on changes. The Port Clyde fleet has begun using specialized gear such as Nordmore grates in their nets to reduce unintended bycatch associated with shrimping, but they say the fishery is still one of the cleanest in the industry.
Many hope a direct-marketing approach will catch on. Meanwhile, there are high hopes that the model will be a component for supporting conservation-minded fishermen in an effort to sustain coastal communities and a working waterfront. "A CSF fosters a direct relation to the folks who are doing the fishing," said Lucie Bauer, an organizer with the Rockland First Universalist Church. "I think that's going to appeal to a lot of people."
Community supported fisheries, or CSFs, are on the vanguard of a nationwide effort to connect consumers directly with the farmers and fishermen producing and catching the food. Two groups in Maine recently began separate direct marketing initiatives, offering consumers a chance to invest up front in a share that yields a weekly or monthly return in fresh seafood directly from boats.
In the midcoast, the Port Clyde Draggermen's Cooperative, a pool of 10 groundfishing boats, in late December began selling shares of its shrimp haul. That followed an October offering by Portland seafood company Ready Seafood for a lobster subscription called Catch a Piece of Maine.
In theory, CSFs and direct-marketed seafood boost the value of harvests for smaller commercial fishermen by selling market-rate seafood direct to consumers, bypassing the wholesaler and the processor. This helps guarantee a return on catches and also boosts the return ˆ in some cases significantly ˆ on a low-value product like shrimp.
At the same time, the CSF model addresses ethical questions associated with the depletion of the world's fisheries. That's because the current seafood market tends to reward high-volume and low-quality. "That economic model is devastating to the marine environment. It's bad for fleet diversity," said Rob Snyder, vice president for programming at the nonprofit Island Institute, which plans to provide assistance to the Port Clyde CSF. "We're trying to keep small boats viable while the stocks rebound."
Still, the CSF model is not without its challenges. Some note that cooking raw, unprocessed seafood requires a significant commitment on the part of consumers, many of whom are more comfortable with KFC's Fish Snackers and frozen, breaded jumbo shrimp. And with continued reports of overfishing, all fishermen face an uphill battle convincing federal regulators and the savviest of consumers that sea life is abundant and can be caught sustainably with groundfishing boats.
Local support
Nationwide, the CSF distribution model is still in its infancy. Last year saw the debut of two direct-marketing programs, run by nonprofits, in Alaska and North Carolina. While the price and volume of shares vary, the bottom line is consumers appear to be willing to pay more to know about their food's geographic origin ˆ whether Bordeaux, broccoli or Gulf of Maine seafood.
The model has been used successfully by small vegetable farmers and is known as community supported agriculture, or CSA. In Maine, CSA farms have grown from one in 1989 to 95 today, according to Melissa White, director of organic marketing with the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, a nonprofit organization in Unity.
Next year, MOFGA, Saco-based fishing advocacy group Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Maine Council of Churches plan to use part of a three-year Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education marketing grant to promote local foods. The groups said a separate effort is underway to organize a CSF in Southern Maine.
This past December, the Port Clyde Draggermen's Co-op began weekly shrimp distributions in Rockland. Organizers at the First Universalist Church there had successfully organized a vegetable CSA last year and began looking for other ways to support the local food community.
For $189, shareholders receive 10 pounds per week of fresh, head-on Maine shrimp. Over the 14-week season, shareholders pay $1.35 a pound. It's a guaranteed fresh catch and the economics are in shareholders' favor: Supermarkets and roadside stands sell shrimp for about $1.50 a pound; wholesalers pay fishermen about 50 cents a pound. "The fishermen get a higher price per pound and consumers are still getting a bargain," said Jennifer Plummer, an administrative coordinator with NAMA.
Libby said the co-op sold 40 shares to church members this year. While some shareholders expressed skepticism about the 10 pounds a week, others have split shares or frozen the shrimp. The arrangement also allows fishermen, traditionally price takers, to set prices and quality ˆ the ultimate goal of a CSF. "We want to control our product from the dock to the plate," said Kim Libby, manager of the Port Clyde co-op.
While fishermen say they would like to sell more directly to consumers, most of the catch in Port Clyde continues to a processor. Without a processing facility ˆ that would turn raw catch into filleted fish ˆ fishermen say they couldn't directly market groundfish like cod and pollack, the expected next step for CSFs. "It's a product that has no appeal to the public," said Craig Pendleton, a fisherman and former coordinating director with NAMA. "People just don't know how to cook fish."
There's also an established view that fishermen are overharvesting the oceans' fish stocks. Fishermen say lax regulations combined with a denial on their part led to the disappearance of some fish. But they are working on changes. The Port Clyde fleet has begun using specialized gear such as Nordmore grates in their nets to reduce unintended bycatch associated with shrimping, but they say the fishery is still one of the cleanest in the industry.
Many hope a direct-marketing approach will catch on. Meanwhile, there are high hopes that the model will be a component for supporting conservation-minded fishermen in an effort to sustain coastal communities and a working waterfront. "A CSF fosters a direct relation to the folks who are doing the fishing," said Lucie Bauer, an organizer with the Rockland First Universalist Church. "I think that's going to appeal to a lot of people."
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