Markets & Economic Development Community Leadership Downeast Groundfish Initiative Hatchery Outreach and Education

Through CSFs for shrimp and groundfish we are building local markets that will support marine habitat conservation, drive economic development in eastern Maine, and provide fresh, top-quality seafood to local customers.

Decades of absent groundfish meant the disappearance of a once vibrant infrastructure to bring fish and seafood to market. Gone are the processing plants, truckers, ice suppliers and fish vendors. What remains are consumers hungry for fresh premium local fish. They are acutely aware that to "eat local" means to buy fresh fish from their local fishermen every bit as much as to buy potatoes or beef from the neighboring farm.

Our CSF’s connect the customer directly with the fishermen whose catch they are buying. The groundfish community supported fishery - CSF - seeks to ensure high quality, locally caught fish for area residents and a fair price for fishermen. The CSF follows the community supported agriculture (CSA) model that has helped sustain small, family farms for decades. Customers pay up front for a fresh product and they receive a specified volume of seafood weekly. Just as poor farming practices led to the dustbowl, poor fishing practices eliminated the fish from the inshore waters. Also, just as sustainable farming practices - such as those employed by small, organic, family farms - restore the environment and supply people with high quality food - so too can small scale fishermen restore a fishery.

Shrimp CSF

CSF members support a winter fishery, January through March by paying for a defined number of week's catch at a set price and collect their share or half-share once a week at a pre-arranged location. Our collection points in 2008 and 2009 have been in Ellsworth, Stonington, Blue Hill and MDI.

Community Fish

COMMUNITY FISH is our CSF brand for locally caught fresh fish. May through June 2010, our Sentinel Fishery will land Penobscot Bay fish in Stonington for the first time in over a decade. Consumers across Blue Hill peninsula and MDI can once again enjoy a weekly supply of fresh, premium quality cod, pollack, cusk, redfish and hake caught with habitat-friendly hooks by local fishermen. The fish is supplied through our Sentinel Fishery which you can learn about in the Downeast Groundfish Initiative section.