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At the end of Boston’s Fish Pier, past dozens of fish companies and the site of what was once called the nation’s largest daily fresh-fish auction, eight of the state’s top chefs gathered to celebrate and showcase a single fish: flounder.

On a mid-summer night, more than 400 people filled a big white tent behind the Harwich Community Center, drinking champagne, eating everything from dogfish and scallops to oysters and clams, bidding on excursions and auction items, and raising more than $350,000 for the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

Maureen Salam jumped in her car the last Thursday afternoon of June and drove from Dennisport to Eastham to meet the Family Table Collaborative’s traveling food van in the Elks Lodge parking lot off Route 6, a trip she makes every two weeks.

On a beautiful summer night on Pleasant Bay, close to 100 people gathered to hear a talk on lobsters by Captain Chris Townsend — and sample the delicacy as well.
A woman in the audience, who grew up in Maine, impressed the crowd with her tale of how to hypnotize a lobster and make it do a headstand, but it was Townsend who had a litany of relatively unknown lobster lore:

I recently participated in the first annual Fisheries Leadership and National Policy Forum hosted by Seafood Harvesters of America in Washington, D.C. Industry leaders, scientists, members of Congress, and Administration officials gathered for a half-day discussion focused on the future of American fisheries policy and identifying clear actions to support a resilient, competitive and thriving U.S. seafood industry.

John Soposki had just finished his serving of coconut curry conch when he was asked how he liked it.
“I almost ate the plate too,” he grinned.

In the film “The Hand That Holds the Line” Captain Tim Linnell chokes up talking about the community banding together to help his family when his young son Sam had leukemia.
Sam, now a captain himself, also talks about the strong bond between fishermen and how they always lend a hand.
Chris Viprino, who lost his boat in a fire, says he will never forget the tremendous outpouring of support he received.

With 130 people gathered for an international virtual workshop, a cautionary story was told about a fishery in North Carolina shut down because “little old ladies in tennis shoes” found dead birds on the beach.
Fisheries closures through political pressure is an extreme and often avoidable outcome that didn’t sit well with fishermen, and others focused on more collaborative approaches to protecting birds.

Many students who attend WaterWORKS, an annual gathering at Cape Cod Community College, want to hear from different employers in the Blue Economy, explore job and career options from wastewater treatment to mosquito control to tagging sharks.
Not Barnstable High’s Theresa Wait. She knew exactly what she wants to do: commercial fishing.