Research Technical Report

Out to Sea: A New Take on the Fishmonger

Rerig, P. (Fall 2011)

Edible Monterey Bay, 1(1):21-23.

Available at: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/montereybay/online-magazine/fall-2011/out-to-sea.htm

EXCERPT

Now, there’s help on the horizon—a community-supported fishery, or CSF, modeled on the widely popular farm-produce subscription programs known as community-supported agriculture (CSA).

Enter Alan Lovewell and Oren Frey, both of whom are Sea Grant fellows and graduates of Monterey Institute of International Studies. "Alan was the first one to notice the real lack of CSFs on the West Coast," says Frey. "There are organizations from Maine to Florida that have been operating for decades, and yet in California there are only three—one in Half Moon Bay, currently available only to Google employees, and others in San Luis Obispo and San Francisco. So the time is ripe to get a CSF up and running on the Monterey Peninsula."

The premise behind a CSF is simple: Customers buy a share or membership in the program, and each week they receive a box of fresh-off-the-boat seafood. And because the week’s catch is dictated by what’s in season and can be caught in a responsible, sustainable way, each week will bear surprises.