The Local Catch Network is a community of fishermen, organizers, researchers, and consumers across North America. These individuals are committed to providing local, healthy seafood through community-supported fisheries and direct marketing thereby supporting healthy fisheries and communities
I attended the 2019 summit in Portland OR. I had a great time learning and connecting with like minded individuals. It was interesting to see how different communities across North America deal with the challenges of direct marketing and how different organizations are helping fishermen get their catch into the hands of local consumers. I was proud to be one of the several Canadians in the room.
Some of the key highlights I took away from this conference:
The challenges we face in Canada are very different than those in the US. Our challenges are often focused around the logistics of moving seafood from very remote locations or small towns into bigger areas. While US fisherman still have this challenge, they struggle with moving fresh fish an hour or two to their final destination, while we struggle with moving fresh and frozen fish 16+ hours through very remote county to its final destination.
One of our own, Sonia Strobel cofounder of Skipper Otto, is one of the leading experts in Community Support Fisheries. Many attendees were looking at their model for how to support fishing families and feed local communities.
There is some amazing technology and innovations coming out of people in this network.