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When Sasha Tomasek-Little came to the Cape more than five years ago from farm country in Connecticut, she was struck by the ocean and fishermen who build their lives on it.
“It was mind-blowing how hard they work and the brotherhood,” Tomasek-Little said.
She was surprised the industry wasn’t celebrated more. Coming from a marketing and public relations background it seemed to her there is a wealth of knowledge and stories to share, along with the local catch.
Fresh off a weekend pop-up raw bar serving oysters from their farm, lobster rolls from their Sea State food truck, and “Small Boats, Big Taste” haddock chowder from the Fishermen’s Alliance, Pat and Jenny Ross stood in their market in Bourne as fishermen showed up at the back door with fresh local product.
“This wasn’t on the life plan,” laughed Pat, who grew up in Bourne but only shellfished recreationally, occasionally, with his dad.
Both Pat and Jenny went to art school before they met, Pat for photography in Boston, Jenny for design in New York. They met at a Halloween party in 2009.
Captain Scott Rorro was on his boat, the Ernest and Michael, getting ready for back-to-back scallop trips when a couple from Lowell peered down from MacMillan Wharf in Provincetown. Rorro invited them aboard.
Standing in bright sunshine, Rorro answered a string of questions and said although he is a day-boat fisherman now, he had been on trips lasting two weeks or longer. The visitors, impressed, said fishermen must be the epitome of rugged.
The sun was blazing hot, but everyone at the Bass River Farmers Market was smiling as they approached Denice Lapierre at the F/V Isabel and Lilee tent to pick up scallops or put in an order for fish.
They stop to talk about most anything:
The weather.
Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, kids, a nephew’s golf game.
New friends, old friends, mutual friends.
New homes and hometowns.
Youth and old age.
Pre-school, colleges, senior living.
And a lot about recipes.
As soon as he was old enough to ride a bicycle around Barnstable, Connor Rogan was fishing. After he got his driver’s license it was easier and he started working on charter boats when he was 16.
“Once I started making money at it I was like, ‘Wow, this is perfect,’” he said.
One of Will Ligenza’s first jobs was crewing on a boat out of Chatham 20 years ago with a skinny high school kid named Farrell Davis, and the captain said, “If you make that kid cry I will give you $50.”
Sandy Peterson, who lives at Liberty Commons in Chatham, loves to watch cooking shows, particularly on PBS.
In the 1990s, a lot of clams landed in Chatham and Domenic Santoro remembers a young guy coming to Barn Hill Landing with a pick-up truck, ice box on the back.
Just after 9 a.m. on a warm March day, Dan Howes was in his barn sorting oysters taken off the grant that morning.
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