CSAs Aren't Just for Veggies Anymore

In an ideal world, we'd all live a block away from a fishmonger, a butcher, and a baker, not to mention a produce market with a constantly rotating cast of seasonal fruit and vegetables. Absent that fresh-off-the-farm-and-boat scenario, we've had to get creative in how we connect supply with local demand. You're probably familiar with community-supported agriculture, or CSAs, services that allow you to buy a share in what a nearby farm or group of farms produces; you get fresh produce at a good price, often delivered right to your door, and farmers get a reliable customer base that allows them to plan for what they grow each season. For years, I've subscribed to a CSA that drops a box of fruit and vegetables on my doorstep every other week. It's easy, and I can check the website to see what will be in the next box. I still go out to pick up fish or meat for dinner, but I have a constant supply of seasonal produce filling my plate.

Lately the CSA model is finally being adapted to fisheries, and a handful of CSFs have popped up in coastal areas, including SirenSeaSA (the first to supply the San Francisco Bay Area), Local Catch Monterey Bay (for California’s Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties), Catch of the Season (in Anchorage, Alaska), Mermaid’s Garden (Brooklyn), Cape Cod CSF, and Walking Fish (for North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham area, launched by Duke University students in partnership with Carteret County fishermen). Local Catch has a searchable online database to help consumers find a CSF near them. Granted, there are logistical hurdles to making the CSA model work for seafood — it’s hard to guarantee how much and what kind of fish will be caught in any given week, and transportation costs can be very high — but there have been some successes. SirenSeaSA, for example started out almost two years ago with just 35 customers; it's now at 350-plus members and growing.