Know Thy Fisherman

The people who catch our seafood are often profoundly disconnected from the people who eat it. Small-boat fishermen spend weeks at sea with no farmers market equivalent to tell their story, while their carefully caught fish disappears into a commodity system that rewards neither quality nor stewardship. This is a story I wrote for the Mad Agriculture Journal where I spent a day trolling for Chinook salmon in Sitka, Alaska, and getting to know the fishermen navigating shrinking allocations, flat prices, and an increasingly uncertain future for one of the world's last great Chinook fisheries. It's also the story of Sitka Seafood Market, a company founded by a second-generation fisherman that is rebuilding the connection between boat and buyer, proving that restoring our seafood systems may start with simply knowing who caught your fish.

Photo by Jane Cavagnero.