Hello Niaz,,

As we close out Black History Month and head into March, I wanted to share this post from Movement Education Outdoors with you. Movement Education Outdoors is an organization connecting Rhode Island youth to the land they live on & the communities they live in. Their post celebrates the interconnectedness of Black life and waterways. In RI, marine industries are overwhelmingly white, and Movement Education Outdoors is working with RI Black Marine Professionals (including NAMA Board President Jason Jarvis) to dismantle the systems that have disconnected communities of color from the waterways around us while working to expand opportunities for BIPOC youth to access jobs in marine industries. The post dives into the historical and cultural significance of salt fish, whaling, oysters, and fish fries. These histories are just a few examples of those connections.

How has your connection with water sustained you or your ancestors?

Onward, 

Jen

In This Issue

Wild Fisheries are Dead?!

Save the Date: Slow Fish 2024!

DCO2 heads to DC!

ICYMI: MA Lawmakers Demand Answers from Blue Harvest!

Highlights from the Network!

Shop Our Swag!

MYTH: US wild-caught fisheries are fundamentally unsustainable and have no future. That’s why we import so much seafood. To fix our trade deficit and eat more domestic seafood we need more industrial aquaculture and factory fish farms. 

REALITY: The US eats about 6 billion pounds of seafood each year, of which, about 5.1 billion pounds is imported. However, the US lands about 7 billion pounds of edible wild-caught seafood each year. We could be feeding ourselves with what we catch nationwide. But, the industry is hell bent on feeding us a false narrative. They want us to believe that the US is not harvesting enough seafood so they can justify the expansion of industrial aquaculture. 

SAVE THE DATE!

Slow Fish 2024: Charleston

Nov. 1-3

College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C.

It’s been nearly six years since the Slow Fish North America community met in person in San Francisco. So it’s well past time to gather the network again! Come to historic Charleston from Nov. 1-3, 2024, and commune with seafood harvesters, fishmongers, distributors, chefs, educators, advocates, and others in and around the seafood supply chain. Together, we will collaborate, network, learn, innovate and CELEBRATE all things seafood! Stay tuned for more details!

Massachusetts lawmakers sent a letter blasting private equity firm Bregal Partners for leaving over $100 million in debts to small businesses in the New Bedford area after announcing the bankruptcy of Blue Harvest Fisheries this summer. Until recently, Blue Harvest was the single-largest groundfish permit holder in New England, a result of consolidation enabled by catch share fisheries management. 

Left: Members of the Catch Share Reform Coalition on a trip to DC to meet with policymakers in 2023.

Credit: NAMA

“Bregal’s actions with respect to Blue Harvest have left local small businesses and workers holding the bag after your firm spent years price gouging, mistreating workers, saddling consumers with junk fees, and stripping assets,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, and Rep. Bill Keating wrote to Bregal. “Your actions have harmed New England’s fishing industry and left over 1,000 independent contractors, businesses, and other creditors saddled with debt.”

One Fish Foundation is looking forward to connecting with students in the classroom! We’ll be headed to the High School Marine Science Symposium at Northeastern in early March. Following that, we’ll connect with EcoGastronomy students at the University of New Hampshire to have conversations about the food web that connects us all to the seafood we love. Plus, we’re headed to DC with DCO2, planning for Slow Fish 2024, and (fingers crossed) headed for Terra Madre this fall. 

Cape Ann Fresh Catch received two grants from the state of MA, one for $186k for a fish portioner which will allow us to be more efficient (and ultimately save us money) - and a second grant with the Salem Food Pantry to assist in the effort to eliminate food insecurity in our community. In October of 2023, we made the cover of our favorite hometown newspaper (Gloucester Times) highlighting our growing smoked seafood business. 

As we charge into 2024, The Chronicle shot and published a story on February 28th about our CSF (community supported fishery) and our expanding smoked fish product line from Twin Light Smokehouse. (If you missed it, check our social media (@CapeAnnFreshCatch) on Facebook or Instagram.)

As we head into summer, CAFC will begin the process of elevating our website through a new design and logo and will also include a revamped e-com platform that will make for a frictionless buying experience for our CSF customers.

If you attend the Seafood Expo in March at the Boston Convention Center, please come by our booth (#2574), say hello and try some smoked haddock from Twin Light.

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market recently released a video highlighting San Diego’s commercial fishermen! Check it out to learn about the deep relationships that San Diego’s fishermen have with the ocean and its resources.

The Fishadelphia team has been assembling resources about reaching broader audiences, especially communities of color and low-income communities. We wrote an academic paper and an industry guide (plus an Instagram story!) that identified and analyzed the impacts of seven specific strategies we use or have used to reach some of our target audiences, including: 

• Sliding scale pricing
• Flexible payment schedules
• Payment methods
• Fish preparation
• Communication channels and languages
• Pickup locations
• Recruitment methods

We also wrote about tactical inclusion (what we do) and structural inclusion (who we are), and a little bit about how we track our progress.  

As we say in the guide, we're not even close to "having all the answers" - rather, our goal is to share some strategies that have worked for us in hopes they might also be useful for you.

Image Credit: Fishadelphia

Have you always wanted a NAMA hoodie? Now’s your chance! We’ve got hoodies, aprons, and onesies for the littlest fishes among our movement! Our merch is made in the US by Worx Printing Co-op, a worker-owned union coop and printed with water-based, organic, toxin-free, vegan ink. They’re PVC free, contain no phthalates and are safe for babies!