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Josh Stoll is steeped in fisheries research and policy and has often heard how the United States imports 90 percent of its seafood.
“Everyone from my mother to members of Congress have referenced that statistic,” said Stoll, an assistant professor in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine. “If you always talk about the problem, there is not really space to imagine something different.”
So, he, and other researchers, Tolulope Oyikeke and Sahir Advani, are giving people that space. The trio recently published a treatise, “Seafood independence is within reach: a multi-scale assessment of seafood self-reliance in the United States,” in the journal Ocean Sustainability.

Eric Hesse majored in physics at Bates College and in addition to his normal courseload he did computations about refracting light on the ocean, and how the bending light shifts the image of Atlantic bluefin tuna.  

“My old physics notebooks are filled with fishing diagrams,” Hesse, a tuna harpoon fisherman, told nearly 100 people gathered at the Fishermen’s Alliance last week for Meet the Fleet. 
“I am uniquely qualified,” he said to laughter.

John Pappalardo, CEO of Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, looked out at revelers at the 23th annual Hookers Ball and mentioned that while the event always is a celebration, this year was particularly upbeat.

The reason? More and more people see a bright future for commercial fishing on Cape Cod and are getting into the industry, he said.

“I see a lot of young fishermen, more than in a long while. This is one of the truest ways to judge the health of the industry and the value of our work,” Pappalardo added.

Over the course of months, multiple focus groups and close to 40 conversations, myriad reasons why people aren’t eating more seafood were revealed.
“I don’t want the smell in my house, and I don’t always know how to cook it.”
“I don’t feel comfortable buying fish at Stop & Shop and other chains.”