A Day in Photos

Hookers Ball XXII was one for the record books, our most successful ever. The big, white tent was at a different venue, the Harwich Community Center, but the ball’s purpose was the same: to celebrate the local, commercial fishing industry with the wider community and help protect the fleet’s future. The night was full of old friends and new faces, and more than a few fishing families. With direct sales and neighborly connections, ‘know your fisherman’ is alive and well as one captain kept being waved over to the fish fry to explain his sea clam operation. Take a look at this photo gallery by Salty Broad Studios

Since hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the Chatham Fish Pier to see commercial fishermen unload their catch, many have seen the sights captured in this gallery. But for us, the excitement and bustle of the fish pier never loses its allure.

People used to say that fish smelled like money. They still do, and the pier feels like community. The fish pier represents pride in the past, values of the present, and promise for the future.

The pier is fishermen leaving wages in the ocean to help tow in a fellow captain; a pre-school girl on the deck leaning over and clapping when she sees fish come flying down the chute; thousands of pounds trucked to markets around the nation and shipped around the world.

Provincetown is a fascinating place, with a rich fishing history. We never tire of looking back at photos of the fleet, its characters and learning about how the fishing village helped build a nation.

Our Haddock Chowder and Provencal Fish Stew have had a busy several weeks. The Small Boats, Big Taste program keeps on growing and we have an increasing number of wonderful partners. Take a look through this gallery and see students at Barnstable High School seeking out the the soups at lunch, families at a YMCA fun fair enjoying them, staff at Cape Abilities prepping them for distribution, and state and non-profit representatives celebrating the offerings. 

Falmouth’s Waquoit Bay was sleepy on an early April morning. The state biologists that motored their small skiff through the water were there, in part, because the quiet would be short lived.

Once the summer began to ramp up, the popular water bodies across the Cape would be teeming with pleasure craft. The recreational activity makes it difficult, if not impossible, to do the dredging work needed to keep navigational channels clear. In the winter, the dredging schedule is complicated by weather and the presence of spawning winter flounder.

The biologists are figuring out when flounder are spawning, to see if there are more opportunities for off-season work. In this gallery, we get a close look at the research involved.

Hawai’i has invested in aquaculture to promote the islands’ food security and diversify the economy, to find out more we visited two key facilities supported by the state. Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC) is a unique coastal facility that supports aquaculture and marine science programs at the University of Hawai’i Hilo. PACRC research and education activities focus on growing native ornamentals, foodfish, and oysters, as well as aquaculture technician workforce training for 20 to 30 students annually and restoration of native species

Blue Ocean Mariculture is the nation’s first commercial farm to raise fish in the open ocean.  They accomplished this through close communication with local fishermen to select mutually agreeable species and location..  The local commercial fishermen are supportive of farming kanpachi, since it means one of their favorite fishes is back on the menu. 

“Healthier people create healthier communities,” is the catchphrase of the Family Table Collaborative and local seafood is a big part of that.  The Family Table gets donations from local fishermen, including Jesse Rose of the Midnight Our, as well as cases of haddock chowder and Provencal Fish Stew from the Fishermen’s Alliance.

Twenty six years is a long time, older than a few captains in the fleet, older than his own children, almost older than his wedding vows. Just about as old as this organization. John Our has had a long, long history in the fishing industry, that started when he was five