Kitchen Garden Guides

Sunday, January 2, 2011

CSA adds fishing to become CSF

Bob sent me an email link to this great idea for community supported fishing. It works just like community supported agriculture. Here is an excerpt from the article....

CSF shareholders pay up front for a share of the catch. Most CSFs deliver whole fish in season, so customers experience variety and seasonality. Fishermen are paid a flat rate per season, rather than being paid only for the number of fish they catch. This encourages them to diversify their catch and fish according to the demands of the ecosystem, rather than to maximize sales.

According to the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA), which works on policy to support small-scale fishing, nearly 20 other communities across North America have been inspired by the Port Clyde experience to start their own CSFs.

This would be a dream come true for me if anyone is interested in offering such a service to people around Cygnet or the Huon Valley or South Channel. I can think of nothing better than walking down to collect my week's fish from the Cygnet jetty. Being a person on my own I wouldn't need much, and I'd love diversity.... but I am sure there'd be others who would love to join in and make it worth while for one fisherman.

4 comments:

Maggie said...

I remember when I was a child going down and buying fish from boats as they came into Kiama Harbour.
The fish was so fresh and delicious, I have not tasted fresh fish since then. Great idea for Transition Cygnet.

AlexF said...

Sounds lovely, but wouldn't the easiest-to-catch types of fish be over-fished since, if the fishermen get a fixed payment per season, they might not be motivated to catch the "difficult" fish?

Kate said...

True, Alex, but hopefully there are quotas.

Brett said...

What a great opportunity Kate if it gets off the ground (or water). Fingers crossed