A local longline fishing co-op in Long Island, Halifax, Canada, has caught a big prize.
Off the Hook was runner-up in an international sustainable fisheries contest sponsored in part by National Geographic.
The group of Digby area fishermen sells shares or subscriptions at the beginning of the summer season and then delivers “fresh fair fish” directly to customers in the Valley, Halifax and across the province.
The CSF or community-supported fishery placed in the top three of 103 entries from around the world in the contest called Turning the Tide for Coastal Fisheries.
National Geographic and an environmental charity called Rare organized the contest to look for “the best solutions for fostering sustainable fisheries and promoting healthy coastal ecosystems.”
“The Solutions Search contest has given us a lot of press and attention and support,” says Beau Gillis, a longliner from Freeport on Long Island. “It makes us hopeful, this could save the fishery and revive coastal communities.”
Gillis grew up on Long Island and fished with his father before leaving home in the mid 1990s to study, work and travel the world. Gillis returned to Freeport in 2004 and has crewed since then on lobster boats. In 2008 he bought his own boat and a bottom hook and line licence.
Gillis says before the CSF it was hard to go fishing at all.
“It’s such a huge risk,” he says. “Bait went from 65 cents to $1.50 a pound-at that price you can’t afford to try to explore.”
Two years ago the Ecology Action Centre approached Gillis and other local fishermen with the idea of the CSF.
“They said we could maybe get $2.50 or $3.00 a pound when we were making 75 cents to a dollar,” says Gillis. “I said: what’s the catch? The catch was hassle. ”
The fishermen lose a day’s fishing on Thursdays and drive to Halifax to meet their customers.
“It’s been worthwhile in every way but monetarily,” says Gillis. “We don’t have the volume to really get ahead yet. We’re just idling, we’re holding on.”
His hope is that eventually it will be worthwhile for more fishermen to fish this way which he says is much more sustainable than dragging.
Transcontinental Media